Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has yet to respond to the post on X. (Franco Brana/AFP via Getty Images)
"This is why we’re fighting the fake news media," he said when pressed on the chat by reporters at the White House Easter Egg roll. "This group right here is full of hoaxsters."
Hegseth gestured to his wife and children and said he was there to enjoy the day with them. He added that he had spoken to Trump and planned to keep fighting all the way.
The Trump administration came under scrutiny from Democrats and other critics after the Atlantic's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, revealed in an article published March 24 that he was added to a Signal group chat with top national security leaders, including Hegseth, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, discussing upcoming military strikes in Yemen.
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Signal is an encrypted messaging app that operates similarly to texting or making phone calls, but with additional security measures that help ensure communications are kept private to those included in the correspondence.
The Atlantic's report characterized the Trump administration as texting "war plans" regarding a planned strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The Trump administration has maintained, however, that no classified material was transmitted in the chat, with Trump repeatedly defending Waltz amid the fallout. The strikes on Houthi rebels unfolded on March 15.
U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stand, as U.S. President Donald Trump (not pictured) meets French President Emmanuel Macron (not pictured), at the White House in Washington, D.C., Feb. 24, 2025. (Reuters/Brian Snyder)
On Friday evening, those three employees were fired, two defense officials confirmed to Fox News Digital, along with Chief of Staff Joe Kasper.
Another press aide, John Ullyot, parted ways with the Pentagon because he did not want to be second-in-command of the communications shop.
Officials denied that the three men were placed on leave because of their foreign policy views and said they saw no connection to their positions on Iran and Israel — even as reports surfaced that President Donald Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the Pentagon would not intervene if Israel attacked Iran.
Ullyot notably published a scathing opinion piece in Politco Sunday predicting Hegseth would not remain as secretary of defense.
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"It’s been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon," he wrote. "From leaks of sensitive operational plans to mass firings, the dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership."
"President Donald Trump has a strong record of holding his top officials to account," he wrote. "Given that, it’s hard to see Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remaining in his role for much longer."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-rips-alleged-pentagon-leakers-shattered-egos-brushes-off-hegseth-second-signal-chat-report