The White House backed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Monday after a report revealed he sent information about a March strike against Houthis in Yemen to friends and family via a Signal chat group — with press secretary Karoline Leavitt claiming the “entire Pentagon” is working against the DOD leader.
“The president stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth, who is doing a phenomenal job leading the Pentagon,” Leavitt told “Fox & Friends.”
“This is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and against the monumental change that you are trying to implement.”
Hegseth was part of a so-called “principals’ committee” Signal group about the March 15 strikes that included Atlantic magazine editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who revealed that he had been let in on the attack plans days later, causing a brief furor in Washington.
Much of the blame for the fiasco was placed on national security adviser Mike Waltz, who took responsibility for adding Goldberg’s contact info rather than that of US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
Late Sunday, the New York Times reported that Hegseth had also sent information about the strikes to a second group chat that included his wife, brother and personal attorney.
This chat reportedly included “essentially the same attack plans” that Hegseth shared with the principals’ committee, including flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets targeting the Houthis.
Jennifer Hegseth is not a DOD employee but has travelled on overseas trips with him. His brother Phil and lawyer Tim Parlatore work in the Pentagon, but it’s unclear why they would need access to the attack plans.
“What a big surprise that a few leakers get fired and suddenly a bunch of hit pieces come out from the same media that peddled the Russia hoax [and] won’t give back their Pulitzers,” Hegseth told reporters Monday morning head of the White House Easter Egg Roll.
“This is what the media does,” he added. “They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations.”
“Another day, another old story — back from the dead,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote on X in response to the Times report. “There was no classified information in any Signal chat, no matter how many ways they try to write the story.”
Earlier Sunday, Politico published an op-ed by former chief Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot, who resigned last week, in which he claimed that “it’s been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon.”
“In short, the building is in disarray under Hegseth’s leadership,” Ullyot wrote.
“There are very likely more shoes to drop in short order, with even bigger bombshell stories coming this week, key Pentagon reporters have been telling sources privately.”
On Friday, Hegseth dismissed three top staffers over leaks — senior adviser Dan Caldwell, deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick and chief of staff to the deputy secretary of Defense Colin Carroll.
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