Pentagon backtracks on ‘happenstance’ comment about Richard Marles meeting US counterpart Pete HegsethKatina CurtisThe NightlyThu, 28 August 2025 12:56PMCommentsCommentsEmail Katina Curtis
The Pentagon has backtracked on suggestions Richard Marles did not meet US counterpart Pete Hegseth in Washington this week, just hours after calling the encounter “happenstance”.
In a move that has created more confusion around the snap trip, the American department originally said there had been no official meeting scheduled between the two, before conceding on Thursday that it had been arranged with the Deputy Prime Minister in advance.
Mr Marles said at the weekend that he was travelling to Washington DC to meet Mr Hegseth, amid ongoing concerns about the future of the AUKUS defence pact, which the Pentagon is reviewing.
He also met Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller.
Mr Hegseth attended the end of the meeting between the Defence Minister and Mr Vance after being in a three-hour Cabinet meeting with US President Donald Trump.
Earlier on Thursday, the Pentagon told The Australian newspaper that “there was not a meeting, it was a happenstance encounter”.
But chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell subsequently told The Nightly that the engagement was planned.
“Secretary Hegseth welcomed the opportunity to meet in person with Deputy Prime Minister Marles for the third time this year,” he said.
“Their meeting at the White House on Tuesday was coordinated in advance.”
The nature of Mr Marles’ travel to the US appeared to be last-minute, overlapping with prior engagements he had in Australia.
However, multiple government sources insisted the travel had been long-planned and the timing was fluid, fitting around bilateral visits to the Philippines and Malaysia last week and a meeting with Indonesian foreign and defence ministers in Canberra on Thursday.
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