‘FIRMLY AND TOTALLY REJECTED BY ME’: The Pentagon spent the day Monday dealing with the fallout from an explosive story by Politico, which quoted “two senior defense officials” as saying that officials, under orders from Defense Secretary Mark Esper to find cost savings, had come up with a plan to cut $2.2 billion from the military health system over the next five years.

On Sunday, the Pentagon labeled the story “inaccurate and incomplete” and insisted nothing has been decided. “The bottom line is that health care for our service members, their families, and retirees is not at risk and efforts by two anonymous sources to create a panic is misleading,” tweeted Jonathan Hoffman, chief Pentagon spokesman.

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