Defense Secretary and former Fox News host Pete Hegseth has ordered that a room in the Pentagon be used as a makeup studio for television appearances.
The changes, first reported by CBS News on Wednesday, cost several thousand dollars.
“Changes and upgrades to the Pentagon Briefing Room are nothing new and routinely happen during changes in an administration,” a Defense Department spokesperson said in a statement to HuffPost.
Hegseth, who has come under fire for his mishandling of sensitive information and who recently fired several aides at the Pentagon, was a former morning co-host on “Fox & Friends Weekend.”
Tami Radabaugh, the deputy assistant to the secretary for strategic engagement and a former producer at Fox News and CBS News, came up with the idea for a makeup studio, sources told CBS News.
In its statement, the DOD downplayed the new makeup studio.
The changes will be used to “offer senior leaders and VIPS a place to prepare prior to press engagements before appearing on television,” the statement said.
The spokesperson said the changes included adding a “director’s style chair, mirror, and a makeup light” along with a newly constructed countertop.
“For this upgrade we were deliberately conservative and opted for several less expensive, on-hand materiel [sic] solutions,” the statement said.
