Pete Hegseth hits back over new Signal group chat leak scandal

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Apr 21, 2025

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hit back at critics Monday over new reports that he shared secret U.S. military attack plans with his wife, brother and lawyer in real time on the Signal app.

The embattled Pentagon chief called the explosive story a smear concocted by “disgruntled employees,” suggesting three ousted top aides might be responsible for telling journalists about the scandalous new group chat revelations.

“A few leakers get fired and some hit pieces come out,” he said during an early morning appearance at the White House Easter Egg Roll. “They take disgruntled employees and they try to slash and burn people.”

But Hegseth didn’t actually deny sharing details of U.S. attacks on Houthi rebels in Yemen with more than a dozen pals in an extraordinary breach of security protocol.

President Donald Trump also brushed aside the idea that he might push Hegseth out amid the embarrassing new revelations.

“I don’t know why you would even ask that question,” Trump told reporters as he greeted some of the thousands of participants in the annual rite of spring.

Hegseth was already facing questions about his sharing of details about the March attack on Houthi rebels in a separate group chat that included several senior administration officials. That chat became public because National Security Adviser Mike Waltz mistakenly added Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to the group.

The new reports said the controversial former Fox News host created a second chat group on the publicly available Signal app on which he included 13 friends, relatives and allies.

The group included Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, who is a former Fox News producer, and his brother Phil Hegseth, who scored a plum Pentagon gig, along with Tim Parlatore, a prominent pro-Trump defense lawyer who represents Hegseth.

The revelation sparked new calls for Hegseth to be ousted as the Trump’s administration has faced criticism for failing to take any action so far against the top national security officials in the original Signal chat.

“We keep learning how Pete Hegseth put lives at risk. But Trump is still too weak to fire him,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted. “Pete Hegseth must be fired.”

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, denounced Hegseth as “a guy who’s in so far over his head.”

“This is such an obv example of sloppiness (and) carelessness,” said Warner, who is the ranking Democrat on the intelligence committee.

Hegseth’s use of Signal and the sharing of such plans are under investigation by the Pentagon inspector general.

Hegseth and the White House sought to point the finger for the new scandal at four top aides who were recently forced out at the Pentagon amid a broad investigation over media leaks in his first several weeks in the post.

Three of the former Hegseth staffers slammed the administration for concocting the leak investigation as an excuse to oust them. A fourth quit after decrying a “month of hell” working at the Pentagon.