Pete Hegseth insisted on Monday he is on the ‘same page’ as President Donald Trump as his job hangs in the balance after a second Signal scandal.
The Secretary of Defense revealed extensive details about military operations in Yemen on March 15th within a private conversation on the Signal app. This chat involved his spouse, sibling, and personal attorney, according to the New York Times.
But Hegseth told reporters at the White House that he has spoken to the president and ‘we’re on the same page all the way.’
Furthermore, he criticized the New York Times for the mentioned article, alleging that it was produced by the “same media that propagated the Russia hoax” and were awarded “Pulitzers for disseminating a bunch of falsehoods.”
His appearance came as his tenure at the Pentagon is in trouble.
In response to a leak probe, three high-ranking members of the team were placed on administrative leave. An ex-spokesperson for the Department of Defense expressed in an opinion piece over the weekend that the situation has escalated into a “full-blown meltdown.”
Hegseth’s use of the Signal app to give friends and family details of a March attack on Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis raises more questions about his reliance on an unclassified messaging system to share highly sensitive security details.
Unlike a previous Signal scandal – in which National Security Adviser Mike Waltz started a chat that included an editor of The Atlantic – Hegseth started the second one, which contained 13 people and was dubbed ‘Defense Team Huddle.’
The information shared ‘included the flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets targeting the Houthis in Yemen,’ the Times reported.
Of the people on that chat, Hegseth’s wife Jennifer is a former producer at the Fox News, but is not an employee of the Defense Department.
His brother Phil and attorney Tim Parlatore do have jobs at the Pentagon but it is not clear if they are on a need-to-know basis regarding attacks. Phil Hegseth is a Department of Homeland Security liaison and senior adviser.
The White House is standing by Hegseth.
‘The President absolutely has confidence in Secretary Hegseth. I spoke to him about it this morning, and he stands behind him,’ press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the White House Monday morning.
But Hegseth received another blow when John Ullyot, the former spokesman who announced his resignation from the Pentagon on Wednesday, claimed the Defense Department is in ‘chaos.’
Writing an op-ed for Politico on Sunday, Ullyot knifed his old boss and exposed the chaos currently unfolding inside the Pentagon – before sharing his belief that Trump should fire Hegseth.
He noted he’s a ‘longtime backer of the secretary,’ and ‘value[s] his friendship.’
But he then let loose on Hegseth, saying the Pentagon is in ‘a full-blown meltdown’ and that has devolved into ‘total chaos.’
He added that ‘the dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president – who deserves better from his senior leadership.’
‘It’s hard to see Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remaining in his role for much longer,’ he added.
Meanwhile, three senior staffers were escorted out of Pentagon by security as part of leak investigation.
Colin Carroll, chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, was suspended a day after Dan Caldwell, a senior adviser to Hegseth, and Darin Selnick, the Pentagon’s deputy chief of staff, were put on administrative leave.
The internal Pentagon investigation is looking into allegations of unauthorized disclosures of information.
The leak investigation at the Pentagon began on March 21 when Hegseth’s chief of staff, Joe Kasper, ordered the probe.
The probe included military operational plans for the Panama canal, a second carrier headed to the Red Sea, the pausing the collection of intelligence to Ukraine, and the leak that Elon Musk’s would meet with Hegseth about the U.S. war plans for China, an official told Politico.
Kasper said the probe would examine ‘recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information’ and said polygraphs would be used.
He ordered the probe one day after the New York Times reported the Pentagon set up a briefing with Elon Musk on a potential war with China.
But now Kasper is leaving his chief of staff job and moving to another part of agency.
And Caldwell, Selnick and Carroll put out a statement criticizing the leak.
‘We are incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defense ended,’ the three men wrote.
‘Unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door. All three of us served our country honorably in uniform – for two of us, this included deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, based on our collective service, we understand the importance of information security and worked every day to protect it.’
They noted they haven’t been told what the investigation is about.
‘At this time, we still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of “leaks” to begin with. While this experience has been unconscionable, we remain supportive of the Trump-Vance Administration’s mission to make the Pentagon great again and achieve peace through strength. We hope in the future to support those efforts in different capacities,’ they said.
