Trump urged to dismiss Pete Hegseth following reports of a secret war plans group chat | US News
The US Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth, has been implicated in a second group chat regarding classified military operations, which he allegedly disclosed to his wife, brother, and personal attorney.
Messages exchanged through the Signal messaging app reportedly included specifics about an attack on Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis that took place in March.
The second chat group, which was first reported by The New York Times, reportedly included around a dozen participants. It disclosed details about the timings of the airstrikes, as per Reuters.
Mr. Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, a former producer at Fox News, has participated in sensitive meetings with international military officials, while his brother was employed at the Pentagon as a liaison for the Department of Homeland Security and served as a senior advisor.
Confidential information from the first chat group was disclosed by a journalist from The Atlantic magazine who was accidentally included in the Signal chat by the National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.
Mr. Hegseth subsequently communicated sensitive information to Cabinet officials regarding last month’s airstrike on Yemen, which later became public.
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Mike Waltz (left) and Pete Hegseth (right) have utilized Signal for discussions concerning sensitive governmental issues. Pic: AP
‘It’s a non-story,’ White House claims
However, the White House has persistently defended Mr. Hegseth.
Donald Trump dismissed the initial leak as merely “something that can happen”.
In response to the most recent chat group revelations, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly stated: “No matter how many times the legacy media attempts to revive this same non-story, they cannot alter the reality that no classified information was disclosed.”
“Recently dismissed ‘leakers’ are continuing to distort the truth to repair their damaged egos and disrupt the President’s agenda, but the administration will remain accountable to ensure such behavior is addressed.”
The “leakers” referenced in the White House statement are four senior officials recently let go from the Pentagon as part of an internal leak inquiry.
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Leaked war plans: ‘Fairly serious’
‘Hegseth has endangered lives’
The New York Times noted that the second chat, dubbed “Defence | Team Huddle”, was initiated on Mr. Hegseth’s personal phone.
It contained the same scheduling details for warplane launches as the first chat.
Numerous former and current officials have indicated that sharing such operational information prior to a strike would definitely have been classified, and its disclosure could have endangered the pilots involved.
Democratic lawmakers have increasingly called for Mr. Hegseth to resign.
“We are continuously learning how Pete Hegseth has put lives in jeopardy,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer remarked in a post on X.
“But [Donald] Trump remains too timid to dismiss him. Pete Hegseth must be removed from his position.”
