April 21 (UPI) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday blamed media and former “disgruntled” employees for reports that he shared military war plans via a second Signal group chat involving his wife and brother, but did not deny the accusations.
Speaking to reporters from the White House South Portico with his children behind him during the annual Easter Egg Roll, Hegseth downplayed articles detailing his use of a Signal chat group to sharing plans last month about bombing Houthi rebels in Yemen as being “a bunch of hit pieces.”
“This is what the media does, they take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees and they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations,” he said. “Not going to work with me because we’re changing the defense department, putting the Pentagon back in the hands of warfighters and anonymous smears from disgruntled former employees on old news doesn’t matter.”
President Donald Trump similarly bashed the news media when speaking to reporters at the same event, stating, “You bring back Signal again? I thought they gave that up two weeks ago.”
“It’s all just the same old stuff from the media. That’s an old one. Try finding something new.”
Asked if he still had confidence in Hegseth’s ability to lead the Pentagon, Trump said, “Oh, totally.”
“Great confidence,” he said, adding that “the spirit in the armed forces is fantastic.”
Last month, The Atlantic reported that its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, had mistakenly been added to a Signal group chat in which top Trump administration officials, including Hegseth, discussed sensitive military details about a pending attack on the Houthi rebels that was carried out on March 15.
Amid the fallout, an investigation was launched into leaks, resulting in at least three top aides being fired.
On Sunday, it was reported that there was a second 13-person Signal group chat in which the war plans were discussed. This group was created by Hegseth and included his wife and former Fox news producer, Jennifer Hegseth, who is not a Defense Department employee; and the secretary’s brother, Phil, as well as his personal lawyer Time Parlatore, both of whom work at the Pentagon.
The reports state Hegseth used his personal phone to message in that group chat.
The New York Times was the first to report on the existence of the second Signal chat.
The initial revelation that the Defense officials were using the encrypted smartphone application to communicate about sensitive military information was met with swift calls from Democrats for Hegseth to resign — calls that have resumed and seemingly amplified following the Sunday night reporting.
“Being the Secretary of Defense is serious business and it’s clear he’s not up to it,” military veteran and astronaut Sen. Mark Kelly, D- Ariz., said on X. “Hegseth needs to resign or be fired.”
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, said the reports show “how completely incompetent” Hegseth has been as the head of the Pentagon.
“This guy’s got to go,” he said. “The question is will all my Republican colleagues who love to say they support national security, will any of them raise their voice and say this is a bridge to far.”
Republican Rep. Don Bacon, of Nebraska, also suggested Hegseth should be let go.
“If it’s true that he had another [Signal] chat with his family about the missions against the Houthis, it’s totally unacceptable,” he told Politico in an interview. “I’m not in the White House, and I’m not going to tell the White House how to manage this … but I find it unacceptable, and I wouldn’t tolerate it if I was in charge.”
He added that Hegseth was acting as if “he’s above the law — and that shows an amateur person.”
Prior to The Time’s reporting being published, John Ullyot, a Pentagon official who resigned last week, penned an opinion piece for Politico in which he described the Defense Department as being dysfunctional under Hegseth’s leadership and that it has become “a major distraction” for Trump.
He added that it appeared that Hegseth was close to being removed as secretary.
A veteran and former Fox News host, Hegseth was an unorthodox and controversial pick for secretary of defense. He had attracted criticism during his confirmation hearings from Democrats over his lack of military leadership experience, financial mismanagement of a veterans nonprofit organization and allegations of alcohol abuse and sexual misconduct.
