Jennica Pounds, the Utah software engineer who operates the popular pro-Trump X account @DataRepublican, was publicly unmasked as a Special Government Employee (SGE) for the Department of Defense (which the administration refers to as the Department of War). Her employment came to light after she publicly botched a “scoop” handed to her by a State Department official, resulting in a chain reaction that exposed a broader network of secretly hired MAGA influencers.
The exposure began when Pounds publicly accused Undersecretary of State Sarah B. Rogers of trying to “entrap” her into committing treason by sharing documents concerning Cuba. Rogers clapped back, clarifying that the markings Pounds found suspicious were actually standard FOIA redactions. Amid the online fallout from the dispute, reporters and investigators dug into Pounds’ credentials and confirmed she had been working as a temporary SGE since July.
The Rest of the “Troll Army” on X was then outed.
Following the scrutiny generated by Pounds’ public dispute, subsequent media reporting—including a major exposé by The Washington Post which revealed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had quietly amassed a network of right-wing influencers on the government payroll to manage online messaging and target critics. The exposure of Pounds opened the floodgates, leading to the outing of several other prominent anonymous and public MAGA personalities as civilian government employees:
@CynicalPublius is Thomas Anderson, a Retired Colonel who was exposed alongside the group; heavily active in defending Hegseth online while on the payroll.
@KurtSchlichterKurt Schlichter is a Retired Army Colonel who is holding an active official government civilian email address within the Pentagon.
@RobManessRob Maness is a Retired Air Force Colonel confirmed alongside Schlichter to be assigned to the office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.