Trump's new Navy Secretary under fire over racial slurs, 'stolen valor' and ghoulish brag about JFK Jr and Carolyn Bessette's corpses

By SUSAN GREENE, US SENIOR REPORTER Published: 15:16, 29 April 2026 | Updated: 15:17, 29 April 2026 Donald Trump's new acting Navy Secretary has a history of questionable combat disability claims, bizarre witchcraft warnings and racist remarks – including about his own people – the Daily Mail can reveal.  Hung Cao, whose family fled their native Vietnam as refugees in 1975, has, according to a Navy source, even referred to himself as a 'gook' – a slur US military personnel historically used for Asian people, especially during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. 'There's something off about this guy, and seriously self-hating,' that officer, who has worked with Cao at the Pentagon, told the Daily Mail. 'He's a Hegseth lackey on steroids, with that same mix of toxic muscle-flexing and GI-Joe evangelism,' another source, a civilian working in the Pentagon, told us. 'It's like he's set out to out-Hegseth Pete Hegseth.' Cao, 54, is a decorated, 25-year Navy veteran and twice-failed Republican candidate for federal office in Virginia whom Trump appointed undersecretary of the Navy in 2025. He snagged the top job as acting Navy secretary last week after Hegseth abruptly fired John Phelan, the financier the president had tasked with delivering his long-desired 'Golden Fleet' of new Navy ships. Pentagon insiders said that Hegseth isolated Phelan immediately after his appointment, deeming him a dilettante and outsider because he lacked military experience.  Hung Cao, Trump's new acting Navy Secretary, is facing questions over past remarks and his military record  Cao, 54, is a twice-failed Republican candidate for federal office in Virginia whom Trump appointed undersecretary of the Navy in 2025 As they tell it, the Defense Secretary's minions made it widely known in the Pentagon that Phelan, then an advisor to Dell Technologies, had made trips on jets belonging to disgraced pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.  They said Hegseth increasingly antagonized Phelan in recent weeks when it became clear that he couldn't deliver the first of Trump's sought-after battleships by the president's 2028 deadline, especially given recent cuts in the civilian workforce it takes to design and oversee construction. 'John was set up to fail,' one Pentagon insider told us. Phelan is the latest in a string of more than two dozen top military officials elbowed out by Hegseth. Soon after taking office, the defense secretary fired Judge Advocates General (JAGs) responsible for advising commanders on the legality of military operations, rules of engagement, detainee policies and compliance with US and international laws. Hegseth ousted the Army's chief of staff, General Randy George, earlier this month, and has clashed with the Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, over personnel decisions and policies. Cao is now responsible for about 850,000 active duty, reserve and civilian Navy and Marine personnel at a time of war – and increasing US naval build-up – in the Middle East, and as Hegseth engineers a more aggressive, more overtly Christian and anti-woke military. Lawmakers expressed doubts about the former Navy captain in 2025 when they narrowly confirmed him as Navy undersecretary by a 52–45 vote. Some of those are resurfacing now he has risen to the Navy's top civilian job. Cao enrolled in the US Navy in 1989 and spent more than 30 years in the service, seeing active duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia Cao's son followed in his footsteps when he entered the US Naval Academy in 2024 Among those concerns are his claims of having disabling combat wounds from his quarter-century of service in the Navy, including a commission as a 'special operations explosive ordinance disposal/dive officer'. He retired as a captain in 2021. On the campaign trail the following year and later in 2024, Cao repeatedly said he had sustained wounds from being 'shot at' and 'blown up' during combat deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. 'I'm 100% disabled, you know, because just from being blown up in combat many times and everything else, you know, knee, shoulders,' he said in April 2022. 'I've got more surgeries than you could possibly imagine.' A USA Today investigation into Cao's claims found he did not receive a Purple Heart, the medal given to troops who have suffered wounds from 'direct or indirect result of enemy action' that required medical attention.  Nor does his record show a Navy Combat Action Ribbon recognizing that he faced enemy fire during combat engagement.  The newspaper cited four military officers who said it would be rare for a sailor not to have received those commendations after being severely wounded in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan. Cao and his campaign would not provide details to the paper seeking clarifications about his injuries, instead disputing the criticism and slamming reporters for misunderstanding how military disabilities work. 'I want to give you all a window into what it's like being a combat veteran who had the gall to run for public office against a career politician,' Cao posted during his unsuccessful 2024 race against Democratic US Senator Tim Kaine in Virginia.  Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of War, has sparked backlash over his controversial leadership style within the military  'Any veteran will read this with the same disgust. Imagine being asked to provide documentation of the dates and times Al Qaeda shot at you.  'Imagine being asked, if you're a disabled veteran, why don't you have a Purple Heart?' One Navy official we spoke with told us that, within the Pentagon, 'The rap on Cao is one of stolen valor.' 'Nothing pisses off service members more than exaggerating combat records and injuries,' he said. 'It undermines his credibility as a leader.'  Cao's views on race and religion also are under scrutiny, especially as Hegseth is abolishing diversity, equity, and inclusion programs throughout the military, holding Christian prayer meetings in the Pentagon and increasingly framing the war with Iran as a Christian crusade. Cao has been key in carrying out orders to eliminate 'DEI' policies. He once claimed in an interview that, 'I'm African American because I grew up in Africa, too,' referring to a few years he spent as a child in Niger where his father worked for USAID. Cao last year penned an opinion piece slamming that agency as a leftist slush fund. The US Naval Undersea Museum gave a rundown of Cao's experience in 2021, using this photo, when he was J3X Branch chief at the Pentagon, shortly before his retirement Cao, who retired from service in 2021 and ran for office in 2022 and 2024, made a series of controversial remarks on the campaign trail that are now resurfacing Within minutes of his ascension to Navy Secretary last Wednesday, Pentagon insiders were sharing a video of Cao's 2024 appearance on Steve Bannon's show making light of his political opponents' criticisms about his far-right, anti-woke stances. 'They call me a white supremacist. I have one ask for them: when you give me my hood, make sure it's got the little slits and not the circles so I can see better,' he said in reference to a Ku Klux Klan hood. One of three Pentagon officials we spoke with took umbrage with a Navy Secretary making light of perceptions of himself as a racist, especially when Hegseth is under fire for blocking promotions of people of color. 'That clip only gets worse with age,' the official said of Cao's video interview. Hegseth's anti-diversity stances have not only made things uncomfortable for racial minorities in the military, our sources told us.  They've also made work harder for recruiters seeking to attract people from black and brown communities into service. One of the Navy officers we spoke with said he has twice heard Cao refer to himself as a 'gook'. Once, he said, was during a meeting about diversity, equity and inclusion in the military.  The former Navy captain has been accused by some insiders of exaggerating his service record Trump went to Virginia in 2024 to support Cao in his bid to unseat Democrat Senator Tim Caine  Cao is accused by insiders of 'humble bragging' – feigning humility – about his role in leading the Navy team that recovered the bodies of John F Kennedy Jr and his wife Carolyn Bessette The other was in a less formal setting at the Pentagon when the former Navy captain was 'humble bragging' – feigning humility – about his role in leading the Navy team that recovered the bodies of John F Kennedy Jr, his wife Carolyn Bessette, and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette after their fatal 1999 plane crash off Martha's Vineyard. Cao's self-deprecating insinuation, as the Naval officer read it, was that the Kennedy and Bessette families may have preferred a white diver leading the mission. 'I highly doubt that to be the case,' the source. 'Maybe his own racism clouds his view.' Even before his appointment as undersecretary, Cao was espousing the brand of tough-guy rhetoric that won Hegseth Trump's nomination as defense secretary.  During his 2024 Senate run, for example, he encouraged the military to recruit 'alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them, and ask for seconds'. 'Those are the young men and women that are going to win wars,' he said. Cao embraces the kind of outspoken evangelical Christianity that has marked Hegseth's tenure in office.  In a conversation with Christian nationalist Sean Feucht, Cao expressed fears that Wiccan culture has taken over parts of the West Coast and could spread eastward, threatening Christianity. 'There's a place in Monterey, California called Lovers Point. The original name was Lovers of Christ Point, but they took out the 'Christ'. It's Lovers Point and Monterey is a very dark place now, with a lot of witchcraft and the Wiccan community has really taken over and we can't let that happen in Virginia,' he said. Those comments led to mockery of Cao on late-night talk shows. 'We're still at war, and there are morale issues in all the branches,' said the civilian Pentagon official we spoke with.  'This is exactly what we don't need right now – another clown in leadership.' The Daily Mail has reached out for comment from Cao and his office. Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said: 'The appointment of Hung Cao as Acting Secretary of the Navy brings battle-tested leadership to the Navy's highest office. Having recently served as Under Secretary, he embodies the relentless grit and America First vision required to maintain America's maritime superiority.' The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.