The White House pressed on Monday for the support for the support Defense Minister Pete Hegseth According to the media reports that he divided sensitive military details Another chat signal messagingThis time with his wife and brother.
Neither the White House nor Hegseth denied that he had shared such information in a second chat, instead to concentrate their answers to what they called the angry workers who they calledaccused of decreasing the mediaand insist that noClassified informationhad been disclosed.
“They are just fake news. They only put stories on,” said President Donald Trump reporters. “I think it sounds like angry employees. You know, he was brought there to get rid of many bad people, and that’s what he is doing. So you don’t always have friends if you do that,” said Trump.
The government’s attitude should keep the border against democratic demands for Hegseth’s shooting at a time when the Pentagon is In turbulence devouredincluding the Departures of several senior helpers And An internal examination About information leaks.
The White House also tried to distract attention from the national security effects of the latest signal revelation by formulated it as an overgrowth of an institutional power struggle between Hegseth and the professional workforce. But some of theRecently abandoned civil servantsThe administration seemed to be annoyed, part of Hegseth’s initial inner circle that was brought to work.
“This happens when the entire Pentagon works against them and works against the monumental change that they want to implement,” said the press spokesman for the White House, Karoline Leavitt, in comments that were reinforced by a social media account by Pentagon.
The latest news added questions about the judgment of the competitive Pentagon boss, who achieved the disclosure of his participation in a last month last monthSignal chat with the leading Trump managersIn which details about the military attrica against the militants of Houthi in Houthi were shared.
“Pete Hegseth has to be released,” said Chuck Schumer, a democratic chairman of the Senate.
Latest reports on Hegseth’s signal use
The New York Times reported on Sunday that the information that was shared in a signal -messaging chat with Hegseth’s wife, brother and others were similar to what was communicated with Trump administrative officers in the chain already open.
A person familiar with the content and those who received the news who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters confirmed the second chat at the Associated Press. The person said it included 13 people and was called “defense man”. “
For the first time, officials of the White House learned about discussing internal discussions about the condition of the anonymity of the second signal chat on Sunday, according to a civil servant who was familiar with the matter.
Hegseth, speak to reporters while he arrives in participationEaster eggoses of the White HouseNot with the substance of the allegations or the national effects on the security they raised but attacked the media.
“They take anonymous sources from annoyed former employees and then try to lower and burn people and ruin their reputation,” said Hegseth. “I will not work with myself. Because we change the Ministry of Defense and bring the Pentagon back into the hands of war buyers. And anonymous compromises from annoyed former employees in old news does not matter.”
The Republican Senator Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate’s intelligence agency shot, hit a similar tone.Writing on Sunday evening on X: “Secretary Hegseth is busy implementing President Trump’s America First Agenda, while these leaks try to undermine them both.
The reaction of the Trump management to the use of signal
The Trump administration fought in its public explanations about the use of signal officials by high -ranking civil servants, aApp available in storesnot entitled to communicate sensitive or classified national defense information.
The first chat, which was set up by the national security advisor Mike Waltz, contained a number of cabinet members andcame to light because Jeffrey GoldbergThe editor -in -chief of the Atlantic was added to the group.
Officials have repeatedly insisted that the information shared with signal was not classified, although the content of this chat that the Atlantic published, shows that Hegseth Waffen systems and a timeline for theAttack on the Houthis supported by Iranlast month.
Several current and former military officers say that start times and ammunition drop times are classified information, and these details on an unsecured channel have endangered these pilots.
The Trump government was criticizedDefault to take measuresSo far against Top National Security Officer who discussed plans for the strike in Signal, and the latest report has heated up additional claims for Hegseth’s fall.
“The details come out again and again. We keep learning how Pete Hegseth Lives endangered. But Trump is still too weak to dismiss him”Posted on X on Sunday.
The New York Times reported that the group in the second chat Hegseth’s wife Jennifer, the former is fox News producer and his brotherPhil Hegseth, which was discontinued in the PentagonAs a department for home protection and senior adviser.
The Times said the second chat had the same fighter fashion times as the first chat.
Hegseth’s signal use is underInvestigation of the incumbent General Inspector of the Department of DefenseAt the request of the cross -party leadership of the Senate -Treit Service Committee. The high -ranking democratic member Jack Reed from Rhode Island asked the watchdog on Sunday to also examine itself in the registered second chat.
Wider turbulence in the Pentagon
The Pentagon has confronted a wave of turbulence that go beyond the signal. Defense officers have taken control of a seemingly random and incoherent look at the controlCampaign for cleaning online contentThis promoted women and minorities in some casesBeat to restore contributionsAfter their moves they came to light.
Last week, five officials left Hegseth’s inner circle.
Last weekDan Caldwella hegseth adjutant; Colin Carroll, chief of staff of Deputy Minister of Defense Stephen Feinberg; And in it Selnick, Hegseth’s deputy chief of staff;were accompanied by the PentagonWhile the Leck’s department is chasing insider information.
While these three were initially put on vacation in relation to the examination, ashared explanation of Caldwell sharedTo X On Saturday she said that they “were still not said for what we were examined for if there was still an active examination or whether there was even a real examination of” leaks “.”
Another narrow Hegseth adjutant, chief of staff Joe Kasper, also left two officials. You didn’t say why.
Caldwell and Selnick had worked with the Defense Minister during his time to lead the non -profit organizations for America. Kasper was the one who sent a March Memo in which the Pentagon examined what it calledLeck’s national security informationAnd this staff of the Ministry of Defense could be exposed to polygraphs.
Former Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot announced that he had resigned last week and had not dealt with the leaks. However, the Pentagon said that Ullyot was asked to withdraw.
And on Monday, three US officials, another employee, Sean Parnell, said temporarily changed from his job as Hegseth’s chief spokesman and will instead spend more time in Hegseth’s front office.
The officials all talked about the condition of anonymity in order to provide details on personnel movements.
This story was originally on Fortune.com