Hegseth Drops Bombshell: Pentagon Blew Millions on Torturous Cat Testing — and Trump’s Team Just Shut It Down
In a moment that stunned the Senate chamber, President Trump’s Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth revealed during a hearing Wednesday that the Department of Defense spent tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on grotesque animal experiments, including inserting marbles into the rectums of cats.
Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, Hegseth dropped the now-viral line when pressed by Sen. Dick Durbin to name a “boondoggle” the administration had cut:
“We’re talking about some stuff I shouldn’t say in public. You know, marbles in the rear ends of cats. Tens of millions of dollars,” Hegseth said, pantomiming the act in disbelief.
Durbin’s sarcastic retort referencing a “350-year-old Social Security check” did little to undermine the seriousness of Hegseth’s claim. In fact, the experiments — uncovered by watchdog group White Coat Waste Project (WCW) — are very real, and very disturbing.
A $10 Million Horror Show
Through Freedom of Information Act requests, WCW uncovered a $10 million DoD contract—funded through DARPA and the Navy—that paid for horrific experiments at the University of Pittsburgh. These tests involved:
-
Inserting marbles and balloons into cats’ rectums
-
Administering electroshocks
-
Studying conditions like constipation and erectile dysfunction
The contract, initially set to expire in 2025, was quietly extended to 2027 until WCW’s investigation blew it wide open.
Fallout: Testing Terminated, Navy Shuts It Down
The exposure led to a rapid response from the Trump administration. Within 10 days, the Department of Defense canceled the cat tests, and the U.S. Navy permanently ended all dog and cat testing funded through its budget.
“Taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay for pet abuse in Navy-funded labs,” said WCW President Anthony Bellotti. “Now, thanks to a White Coat Waste campaign—and support from Elon Musk, Laura Loomer, Nancy Mace, and Secretary Hegseth—those cruel experiments are history.”
Rand Paul, WCW, and the War on Waste
Sen. Rand Paul, who worked closely with WCW to expose the tests, praised Hegseth’s bold testimony:
“Thank you to @SecDef for highlighting the wasteful spending I exposed in last year’s Festivus Report… This ‘research’ is not only wasteful—it’s inhumane.”
This latest victory adds to a growing list of animal testing rollbacks under President Trump’s administration:
-
FDA has begun phasing out animal testing mandates
-
EPA reinstated a plan to eliminate unnecessary animal trials
-
VA announced it will end primate testing in several labs by 2026
The Only Group Getting Results
White Coat Waste has now:
-
Shut down every government-funded cat lab in the last 40 years
-
Shut down every government-funded dog testing lab in two decades
-
Closed the only primate lab successfully defunded by an advocacy group in the past 10 years
Meanwhile, groups like PETA tried to claim credit — only to be called out by Loomer, WCW, and others for jumping on a train they didn’t build.
Final Word
This isn’t satire. It’s your tax dollars at work, or rather, at waste.
Thanks to relentless exposure, targeted activism, and bold Trump administration leadership, the marble madness is over. But the fight to eliminate cruelty in federally funded labs — and root out entrenched bureaucratic waste — is just beginning.
Trump 47 isn’t just talking about draining the swamp. He’s flushing the litterbox.
