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Trump backs Hegseth after attack plans shared in second Signal chat
Trump backs Defense Secretary Hegseth after reports he shared attack plans on Signal, amid Pentagon turmoil and leak investigations.
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Reuters - Mon, 21, Apr 2025
- 13:18 EDT
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U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attends the annual White House Easter Egg Roll event, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 21, 2025. / REUTERS/Leah Millis
President Donald Trump said on April 21 that he stood behind U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, after reports that he shared details of a March attack on Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis in a message group that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer.
The revelations that Hegseth used the unclassified messaging system Signal to share highly sensitive security details for the second time come at an uncertain moment for him and the Pentagon, where senior officials were ousted last week as part of an internal leak investigation.
"Pete's doing a great job. Everybody's happy with him," Trump said. Asked if he remained confident in Hegseth, Trump said: "Oh totally."
In the second chat, Hegseth shared details of the attack similar to those revealed last month by The Atlantic magazine after its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was included in a separate chat on the Signal app by mistake, Reuters reported on April 20.
The second chat included about a dozen people and was created during Hegseth's confirmation process to discuss administrative issues rather than detailed military planning. Among them was Hegseth's brother, who is a Department of Homeland Security liaison to the Pentagon.
A person familiar with the matter told Reuters that Hegseth had been counseled against sharing information on unsecure systems like Signal before he did so last month.
Silence from Republicans
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, Hegseth slammed the media and former employees.
"I have spoken to the president, and we are going to continue fighting on the same page all the way," Hegseth said.
Hegseth narrowly secured enough votes to become defense secretary, after fierce opposition from Democrats and even some Republicans.
At least seven Senate Democrats have called on Hegseth to resign since the latest news, saying the existence of a second Signal chat showed that he was not fit for the job.
But Republican lawmakers, who control both the Senate and House of Representatives, have largely been silent and none have called for him to step down.
Trump removed a number of defense secretaries during his first administration over policy differences or questions about their loyalty.
Hegseth, however, is seen as being in lock step with Trump. He has deployed thousands of troops to the border with Mexico, called on Europe to spend more on its defenses and taken aim at diversity in the military.
The latest revelation comes days after Dan Caldwell, one of Hegseth's leading advisers, was escorted from the Pentagon after being identified during an investigation into leaks at the Department of Defense.
Caldwell played a critical role for Hegseth and was named as the Pentagon's point person by the secretary in the first Signal chat.
"We are incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defense ended," Caldwell posted on X on Saturday. "Unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door."
Following Caldwell's departure, less-senior officials Darin Selnick, who recently became Hegseth's deputy chief of staff, and Colin Carroll, who was chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, were put on administrative leave and fired on Friday.
John Ullyot, the Pentagon’s former top spokesperson who stepped down last week, criticized the Pentagon leader in a POLITICO Magazine opinion piece published Sunday.
Ullyot alleged that Hegseth’s team spread unverified claims about three top officials who were fired last week, falsely accusing them of leaking sensitive information to media outlets.
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