Pete Hegseth responds to reports of a second Signal chat leak
(NBC, KYMA/KECY) - There is new reporting about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's use of Signal to share sensitive military information.
According to two sources with knowledge of the matter, Secretary Hegseth used his personal phone to send information about U.S. military operations in Yemen to a 13-person Signal group chat, including his wife and his brother.
He did so after an aide had warned him to be careful not to share sensitive information on an unsecure communications system before the Yemen operation, the sources said.
The development comes about a month after it became public where Hegseth shared details of strikes in Yemen in a separate Signal chat with top administration officials. Jeffrey Goldberg, the Editor-in-Chief of the Atlantic, was mistakenly added to that chain.
The New York Times first reported the existence of the second Signal chat.
13 people were in the second Signal group chat, but no other Cabinet-level officials were included, the two sources said.
Hegseth was asked Monday morning to comment on the report, but he did not directly address them. Instead, he chose to criticize the media for reporting on "anonymous sources from leakers with axes to grind."
"You know, what a big surprise that a bunch of leakers get fired and suddenly a bunch of hit pieces come out from the same media that pedal to Russia hopes that won't get back their Pulitzers for a bunch of lies, Pulitzers for a bunch of lies, and hoaxes time and time and time again. And as they peddle those lies, no one ever calls them on it. See, 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 reputation. It's not going to work with me, because we're changing the Defense Department, putting the Pentagon back in the hands of war fighters and anonymous smears from disgruntled former employees on old news doesn't matter."
Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense
When asked if he has spoken with President Donald Trump, the secretary said, "I have spoken to the president, and we are gonna continue fighting on the same page, all the way."
