U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared details of military strikes in Yemen with his wife, brother and personal lawyer, reports say.
Hegseth reportedly shared details in a second Signal group chat on March 15, almost identical to a separate chat, which The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was mistakenly added to.
Information posted in the Signal group included flight schedules for F/A-18 Hornets targeting the rebel Houthi group in Yemen, the New York Times reported.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly shared confidential information in a second Signal group chat with family members
Image credits: Win McNamee / Getty Images
While his brother Phil and personal lawyer Tim Parlatore are Pentagon employees, his wife Jennifer, a former Fox News producer, is not.
It remains unclear as to why Phil Hegseth and Parlatore would need to know details of upcoming strikes on the Houthis.
Four people with knowledge of the chat told The Times about a dozen of Hegseth’s professional network and inner circle were in the chat when he shared confidential information.
Image credits: Appshunter / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
Hegseth was also using his personal mobile to access the Signal group, they said.
In a statement to The Times, the White House said no sensitive information had been shared.
The chat was made on the same day Goldberg was added to an official Signal group discussing Houthi strikes by national security adviser Mike Waltz.
Goldberg initially thought it was a hoax, but soon realized he had been added by mistake when “bombs started falling.”
Officials in the chat included Hegseth, Waltz, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and CIA director John Ratcliffe.
Image credits: Kayla Bartkowski / Getty Images
After The Atlantic reported the blunder, U.S. officials downplayed the story and said no sensitive information had been shared.
The publication later posted the full text messages.
Messages detailed flight schedules of the fighter jets, when bombs would hit Houthi targets, and when Tomahawk missiles were going to be fired.
“If Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, is texting me, telling me the attack was about to be launched on Yemen – telling me what kind of aircraft are going to be used, what kind of weapons are going to be used, and when the bombs are going to fall two hours after the text is received – that seems sensitive information, war-planning information to me,” Goldberg told the BBC.
Trump continues to back Hegseth, who has claimed the story emerged after people were sacked for leaking information
Officials were grilled about the Signal group chat as they testified at a House Intelligence Committee hearing last month.
They denied breaking the law or revealing classified information.
Speaking after the latest chat was revealed, Hegseth told reporters at the White House Easter Egg Roll: “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.”
“This is what the media does. They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees, and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations,” he added.
“Not going to work with me because we’re changing the Defense Department, putting the Pentagon back in the hands of war fighters, and anonymous smears from disgruntled former employees on old news doesn’t matter.”
Trump backed Hegseth at the same event, telling reporters he was “doing a great job.”
Image credits: White House
On Sunday, former chief Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot wrote an opinion piece for Politico stating it had been a month of “total chaos” and “hell” at the Pentagon.
Ullyot, who resigned last month, said “the building is in disarray under Hegseth’s leadership.”
Three top Pentagon advisors were sacked last week amid an investigation into leaks and now claim they have been slandered.
Hegseth’s top advisor, Dan Caldwell, his deputy chief of staff, Darin Selnick, and Colin Carroll, the chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, were all terminated on Friday, Politico reported.
Three Pentagon staff who were fired say they have not been told what they were investigated for
Image credits: Dan Caldwell
In a joint statement on X, they said they were “incredibly disappointed” and had been “slandered” by unnamed Pentagon officials.
“All three of us served our country honorably in uniform – for two of us, this included deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” they said.
“And, based on our collective service, we understand the importance of information security and worked every day to protect it.
“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.”