President Donald Trump says that he thinks Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will “get it together” as the Pentagon chief faces mounting scrutiny around his leadership.
In an interview with the Atlantic, Trump was asked about the turmoil around Hegseth and reporting that he ordered a makeup room to be set up at the Defense Department.
“I think he’s gonna get it together,” Trump said. “I had a talk with him, a positive talk, but I had a talk with him.”
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Hegseth has denied that he ordered a makeup room after details emerged about a green room in the Pentagon being refurbished, calling it a “totally fake story” and said changes in the green room were “furniture modifications.”
The secretary has been at the center of controversy around his usage of the Signal messaging app and over his management of the Defense department. The New York Times recently reported that sensitive military plans were disclosed by Hegseth in a Signal chat featuring his wife, brother and lawyer.
The first Signal chat controversy involved Hegseth sharing plans for a strike on the Houthis in Yemen with several top Trump administration officials. National security adviser Mike Waltz inadvertently added Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg to the chat, which Hegseth and the White House have argued didn’t include any classified information.
In the Atlantic interview, Trump also said he told his staff: “Maybe don’t use Signal, okay?”
Trump also said that Waltz was “fine” despite being “beat up” for accidentally adding Goldberg to the chat.
