President Trump on Monday defended Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth amid new reporting about a Signal app chat and criticism from former Pentagon officials.
“He is doing a great job. … Ask the Houthis how he’s doing,” Trump told reporters on the south lawn of the White House during the annual Easter Egg Roll.
Trump touted strong military recruitment numbers under Hegseth and waved off the latest controversies.
“It’s just fake news,” Trump said. “They just bring up stories. I guess it sounds like disgruntled employees. You know, he was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people.”
The New York Times reported Sunday that Hegseth shared sensitive information about planned strikes in Yemen in a private chat on the Signal app that included his wife, his brother and his personal lawyer.
News of the second chat came roughly a month after the editor in chief of The Atlantic detailed how he was mistakenly added to a group chat of administration officials discussing plans for military strikes on the Houthis. While national security adviser Mike Waltz took responsibility for that chat, Hegseth shared details about planned strikes in the discussion.
Administration officials have insisted there was no classified information shared in either chat.
Also on Sunday, Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot, who recently left the department, penned an opinion piece for Politico in which he wrote, “the building is in disarray under Hegseth’s leadership.” There has been a wave of departures of top officials in recent days amid a probe for leaks.
Hegseth, a veteran and former Fox News host, was defiant in remarks to reporters earlier Monday.
“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,” Hegseth said. “Not going to work with me.”
