Politics'Phenomenal' Pete Hegseth Backed by White House After Second Signal Scandal: 'He's Doing a Great Job'
Pete Hegseth was backed by The White House after his second Signal Scandal.
After Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was involved in another scandal involving messaging app Signal, The White House made it clear they stand behind him.
Pete Hegseth included his wife, Jennifer Rauchet, on a Signal message regarding a military operation against the Houthis in Yemen.
“The president stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth, who is doing a phenomenal job leading the Pentagon,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dished to Fox & Friends. “This is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and against the monumental change that you are trying to implement.”
At the White House Easter Egg Roll, Trump directly shared support for Hegseth, saying he’s “doing a great job” and questions about his job status are “a waste of time.”
“Ask the Houthis how he’s doing,” Trump added.
Karoline Leavitt claimed Donald Trump thinks Pete Hegseth is 'doing a phenomenal job.'
Hegseth also addressed the incident, telling reporters, “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 [and] won’t give back their Pulitzers.”
“This is what the media does,” he added. “They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations.”
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell also addressed the incidents involving Signal on social media platform X, insisting it was “another old story” and that there was “no classified information in any Signal chat.”
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Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell claimed there was 'no classified information in any Signal chat.'
As OK! reported on April 20, Hegseth shared details about a military operation against the Houthis in Yemen on a Signal group chat, which included his wife, lawyer and brother.
While three people confirmed the news to CNN, they noted some of his closest advisors have become concerned with his judgment, including Hegseth’s former press secretary, John Ullyot.
“It’s been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon,” Ullyot said in a statement to CNN. “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.”
Donald Trump said Pete Hegseth is 'doing a great job.'
While Hegseth came under fire in March for using Signal to talk with cabinet officials about military plans — and accidentally included The Atlantic’s editor in chief in the chat — he continued using it to communicate, regardless of his initial blunder being currently investigated by the Defense Department’s acting inspector general.
While Hegseth’s brother and lawyer have jobs at the Department of Defense, his wife does not. CNN noted it’s uncertain if everyone in the second Signal chat had security clearance.
