Who is John Phelan? MAGA donor with no military experience sacked as Trump’s Navy Secretary

US navy secretary John Phelan has left his role immediately amid reports of a falling out with defence secretary Pete Hegseth. A Pentagon spokesperson said on Wednesday that the senior official had left his post after disagreeing with Hegseth and his deputy Stephen Feinberg over a number of issues, including how to revive the Navy’s shipbuilding program. “President [Donald] Trump and Secretary Hegseth agreed new leadership at the Navy is needed,” a senior administration official told The Independent on Wednesday evening. “Secretary Hegseth informed John Phelan of this news prior to it being made public.”Earlier this month, Hegseth sacked the US Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Randy George, who said troops deserved “courageous leaders of good character” in his departure email. Phelan’s ousting follows a string of high-profile resignations and sackings in the US military, which is currently executing a blockade of Iranian ports near the Strait of Hormuz.Global oil markets have been upended and prices continued to rise after Iranian forces seized and attacked three container ships that attempted to pass through the vital waterway on Wednesday. Who is John Phelan?Phelan has been kicked out of his role due to disagreements with Hegseth and Feinberg, according to reports (Getty)Phelan does not have a military background. Prior to assuming the role of Navy Secretary, he was a businessperson and political donor who contributed heavily to President Trump’s election campaign. A Harvard and LSE graduate, Phelan has a background in finance, as co-founding partner and chief investment officer of MSD Capital, a private investment company. He resigned from the role in 2022 and founded Rugger Management LLC based in Palm Beach, Florida. In August 2024, he hosted Trump for a fundraising dinner at his Colorado home, where attendees forked out a minimum of $25,000, according to The Guardian.Flight logs released as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files also appear to suggest that Phelan flew on the disgraced financier’s plane, CNN reported. Mention in the files is not an indication of wrongdoing. Trump hiring as Navy secretary Trump and Phelan had a close relationship according to reports (AFP/Getty)Phelan was sworn in as the 79th US secretary of the Navy in March 2025 shortly after Trump’s reelection. “John will be a tremendous force for our Naval service members, and a steadfast leader in advancing my America First vision,” the president said at the time. “He will put the business of the US Navy above all else.”According to the Wall Street Journal, Phelan had a close relationship with the president. The pair, who own homes close to one another in Florida, regularly chatted at Mar-a-Lago, and Phelan would text the president late at night about shipbuilding, according to the outlet. Senior Pentagon officials were reportedly left frustrated last year when Phelan took his proposal for a new battleship directly to the president, leaving Hegseth out of the loop, according to sources. Political fallout As well as Phelan’s close relationship with the president, Hegseth and Feinberg were also frustrated by his approach to shipbuilding reforms.According to CNN, Hegseth believed Phelan was moving too slowly at implementing the changes while Feinberg was eyeing control of the the major responsibilities associated with shipbuilding and navy acquisitions that typically fall within the role of Navy secretary. Hegseth is reported to have asked Phelan to resign (AFP/Getty)“Secretary Phelan’s abrupt dismissal is troubling,” said Jack Reed, senator of Rhode Island and the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, in a statement Wednesday. “In the midst of President Trump’s war of choice in Iran, at a moment when our naval forces are stretched thin across multiple theaters, this kind of disruption at the top sends the wrong signal to our sailors and Marines, to our allies, and to our adversaries.”Who else has been sacked?George told troops they deserved 'courageous' leaders (Getty)Phelan’s sacking is the latest of several military changes during Hegseth’s tenure. On 3 April he sacked Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, in the midst of the ongoing war with Iran. He was the third top general to have been fired in a week along with Gen. David Hodne and Maj. Gen. William Green Jr. The New York Post reported that the defence secretary’s “paranoia” about being replaced by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll was behind the move.On 27 March, Hegseth is reported to have removed four officers, including two women and two Black men, from a military promotions list, according to the New York Times. In October, Lt. Gen. Joe McGee, a three-star general working on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, was allegedly forced out after months of tensions with Hegseth over his military strategy. Reports indicate the two sparred over the administration’s operations targeting suspected drug boats off the coast of Venezuela. The president fired US Air Force General Charles Q. Brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and removed the Navy’s top officer, Adm. Lisa Franchetti last February. A total of 13 military officials had been removed or retired under the Trump administration by 3 April, according to Axios. Hegseth has also claimed subordinates are behind embarrassing leaks, including allegations he used a commercial chat app to plan military strikes instead of high-security military channels.