Pete Hegseth Under Fire Again: Donald Trump Ally Had at Least 12 Signal Chats for Pentagon Business After Group Chat Scandal

Pete Hegseth has been under fire for two separate incidents regarding his usage of chat app Signal, and now it’s been revealed he used the app even more than had initially been reported.

The Secretary of Defense used the app for “at least a dozen separate chats” regarding official Pentagon business, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.

Sources “familiar with his management practices” dished Hegseth was an avid user of Signal and preferred running “the Defense Department’s day-to-day operations” using the app instead of typical Pentagon communication lines.

“In one case, he told aides on the encrypted app to inform foreign governments about an unfolding military operation,” the report in The Wall Street Journal noted. “He also used the nongovernmental message service to discuss media appearances, foreign travel, his schedule, and other unclassified but sensitive information, two people said.”

Hegseth came under fire in March in an incident known as Signalgate, in which he used Signal to talk with cabinet officials about military plans and accidentally included The Atlantic’s editor in chief in the chat.

As OK! reported on April 20, Hegseth was exposed for a second incident involving Signal in which he shared details about a military operation against the Houthis in Yemen with his wife, lawyer and brother.

Three people confirmed the news to CNN, noting some of his closest advisors have become concerned with his judgment, including Hegseth’s former press secretary, John Ullyot.

Hegseth also fired three senior officials, who reportedly were also concerned, including his top adviser Dan Caldwell, deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick, and chief of staff to the deputy secretary of defense, Colin Carroll, in mid-April.

“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.”

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.

In the wake of his second Signal scandal, the White House made it clear they were backing him.

“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.”

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.”