British Defence Secretary John Healey said his U.S. counterpart has “absolutely got a case” in branding European nations “pathetic” and accusing them of “freeloading” over defense spending in a leaked Signal conversation.
Speaking to Times Radio Wednesday, Healey was pressed on the leak of private messages between top figures in Donald Trump’s U.S. government about plans for air strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
According to The Atlantic, whose editor-in-chief was accidentally added to a high-level group chat on encrypted messaging app Signal, Trump’s Vice President JD Vance said he hated “bailing out Europe again” by launching military action to protect shipping in the Red Sea, mainly to benefit European trade.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth replied to Vance: “I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC.”
Speaking to Times Radio, Healey called the comments a “challenge” rather than an insult.
“The Americans have got a case,” Healey said. “On defense spending, on European security, on our support for Ukraine, European nations can and will do more and the U.K. is leading the way.”
Speaking in a later interview on LBC News, Healey said it was “for the Amercians” to address why sensitive conversations had been taking on a third-party app.
“They know they’ve screwed up, and they’re having an investigation,” he said.
“And look, it’s a reminder for all of us that work in this sort of field, foremost in our mind must be the security of the communications that we undertake, and we take great care in the U.K. to safeguard that.”
Healey emphasized that the U.K. is trying to spearhead a “coalition of the willing” to ensure European support for Ukraine amid uncertainty over a U.S. security backstop. “We’re responding to that American challenge,” he said.
Healey added: “The focus must be first of all on a successful conclusion of the peace talks and we back President Trump in creating this opportunity.”
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