WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump stands behind Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on April 21, after reports that he shared details of a March attack on Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis in a message group that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer.
The revelations that Mr Hegseth used the unclassified messaging system Signal to share highly sensitive security details for the second time come at an uncertain moment for him and the Pentagon, where senior officials were ousted last week as part of an internal leak investigation.
“Pete’s doing a great job. Everybody’s happy with him,” Mr Trump said. Asked if he remained confident in Mr Hegseth, Mr Trump said: “Oh totally.”
“Ask the Houthis how he’s doing,” Mr Trump said. The US military, under Mr Trump, has ramped up its bombing campaign against the Iran-backed Houthi group.
In the second chat, Mr Hegseth shared details of the attack similar to those revealed last month by The Atlantic magazine after its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was included in a separate chat on the Signal app by mistake, Reuters reported on April 20.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt denied a National Public Radio report that the Trump administration had begun searching for a new defence secretary.
The second Signal chat included about a dozen people and was created during Mr Hegseth’s confirmation process to discuss administrative issues rather than detailed military planning. Among them was Mr Hegseth’s brother, who is a Department of Homeland Security liaison to the Pentagon.
Mr Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, a former Fox News producer, has attended sensitive meetings with foreign military counterparts, according to images the Pentagon has publicly posted.
A person familiar with the matter told Reuters that Mr Hegseth had been counseled against sharing information on unsecure systems like Signal before he did so last month.
The Pentagon Inspector-General’s office announced earlier this month that it was opening a probe into Mr Hegseth’s use of the unclassified commercial texting application to coordinate on the highly sensitive March 15 launch of US strikes on Houthis.
Republicans largely silent
Speaking to reporters at the White House on April 21, Mr Hegseth slammed the media and former employees.
“I have spoken to the president, and we are going to continue fighting on the same page all the way,” Mr Hegseth said.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and his wife Jennifer Rauchet attend the annual White House Easter Egg Roll event.PHOTO: REUTERS
Mr Hegseth narrowly secured enough votes to become defence secretary, after fierce opposition from Democrats and even some Republicans.
At least nine Senate Democrats have called on Mr Hegseth to resign since the latest news, saying the existence of a second Signal chat showed that he was not fit for the job.
Republican lawmakers, who control both the Senate and House of Representatives, have largely been silent.
But Republican Congressman Don Bacon, in an interview with Politico, raised questions about Mr Hegseth’s experience and said that such a Signal chat would be unacceptable.
Mr Trump removed a number of defence secretaries during his first administration over policy differences or questions about their loyalty.
Mr Hegseth, however, is seen as being in lock step with Mr Trump. He has deployed thousands of troops to the border with Mexico, called on Europe to spend more on its defenses and taken aim at diversity in the military.
The latest revelation, which was first reported by the New York Times, comes days after Dan Caldwell, one of Mr Hegseth’s leading advisers, was escorted from the Pentagon after being identified during an investigation into leaks at the Department of Defence.
Mr Caldwell played a critical role for Mr Hegseth and was named as the Pentagon’s point person by the secretary in the first Signal chat.
“We are incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defense ended,” Mr Caldwell posted on X on April 19. “Unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door.”
Following Mr Caldwell’s departure, less-senior officials Darin Selnick, who recently became Mr Hegseth’s deputy chief of staff, and Ms Colin Carroll, who was chief of staff to Deputy Defence Secretary Steve Feinberg, were put on administrative leave and fired on April 18. REUTERS
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