{"id":165,"date":"2026-05-08T21:32:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T04:32:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/pentagon-watchdog-declines-to-probe-kid-rock-flights\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T21:32:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T04:32:28","slug":"pentagon-watchdog-declines-to-probe-kid-rock-flights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/pentagon-watchdog-declines-to-probe-kid-rock-flights\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon watchdog declines to probe Kid Rock flights"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WASHINGTON \u2014 The Defense Department\u2019s independent watchdog is declining to investigate a U.S. Army helicopter flight near the home of musician Kid Rock and at a \u201cNo Kings\u201d protest against President Donald Trump, according to a letter from the Pentagon\u2019s new inspector general.<\/p>\n

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The letter, dated April 24 and released on Thursday by a nonprofit advocacy group, said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had the authority to terminate any administrative review. It said the Pentagon chief had \u201cdecided not to pursue this matter\u201d and that the inspector general \u201cwill not investigate\u201d his decision.<\/p>\n

The letter was addressed to Donald Sherman, the president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, who posted it online after requesting the inspector general look into the unusual use of U.S. military equipment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis response is antithetical to the role of an inspector general, and is something we\u2019ve never seen before,\u201d Sherman said in a statement. \u201cInspectors General need to be independent, not defer to the head of their agency. This incident raises serious questions about the potential misuse of military aircraft, abuse of taxpayer funds and public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hegseth has publicly supported the pilots and Kid Rock over the episode. The pilots were initially suspended by the Army for their flight near the musician\u2019s home but Hegseth later reversed that decision.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump says Russia and Ukraine have agreed to his request for a 3-day ceasefire and a prisoner swap<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s defense chief later said he joined Kid Rock aboard a U.S. Army Apache helicopter and posted photos of the musician visiting the Pentagon.<\/p>\n

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington alleged the flight over the pro-Trump entertainer\u2019s home in late March, and above a \u201cNo Kings\u201d demonstration appeared to be \u201ca staged political stunt\u201d using U.S. military equipment at taxpayer expense.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

The group argued the Defense Department\u2019s inspector general, Platte Moring, should probe the matter to see if it violated federal or departmental ethics rules, and asked how much taxpayer funds were spent on the flybys.<\/p>\n

\u00a92026 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/p>\n

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Hegseth has publicly supported the pilots and Kid Rock over the episode.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nPentagon watchdog declines to probe Kid Rock flights - Los Angeles Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/pentagon-watchdog-declines-to-probe-kid-rock-flights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pentagon watchdog declines to probe Kid Rock flights - Los Angeles Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hegseth has publicly supported the pilots and Kid Rock over the episode.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/pentagon-watchdog-declines-to-probe-kid-rock-flights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Los Angeles Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-09T04:32:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/08\\\/pentagon-watchdog-declines-to-probe-kid-rock-flights\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/08\\\/pentagon-watchdog-declines-to-probe-kid-rock-flights\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b7f420a994f0482cf24e152087599bfb\"},\"headline\":\"Pentagon watchdog declines to probe Kid Rock flights\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-09T04:32:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/08\\\/pentagon-watchdog-declines-to-probe-kid-rock-flights\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":407,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/08\\\/pentagon-watchdog-declines-to-probe-kid-rock-flights\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/323cf730fe06eda5a7f041303d3e6289.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"National Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/08\\\/pentagon-watchdog-declines-to-probe-kid-rock-flights\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/08\\\/pentagon-watchdog-declines-to-probe-kid-rock-flights\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/08\\\/pentagon-watchdog-declines-to-probe-kid-rock-flights\\\/\",\"name\":\"Pentagon watchdog declines to probe Kid Rock flights - 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