President Trump on Monday defended Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth amid new reporting a few Sign app chat and criticism from former Pentagon officers.
“He is doing a great job. … Ask the Houthis how he’s doing,” Trump instructed reporters on the south garden of the White Home in the course of the annual Easter Egg Roll.
Trump touted robust navy recruitment numbers underneath Hegseth and waved off the newest controversies.
“It’s just fake news,” Trump stated. “They only convey up tales. I suppose it seems like disgruntled workers. You realize, he was put there to eliminate a variety of dangerous folks.”
The New York Occasions reported Sunday that Hegseth shared delicate details about deliberate strikes in Yemen in a personal chat on the Sign app that included his spouse, his brother and his private lawyer.
Information of the second chat got here roughly a month after the editor in chief of The Atlantic detailed how he was mistakenly added to a gaggle chat of administration officers discussing plans for navy strikes on the Houthis. Whereas nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz took accountability for that chat, Hegseth shared particulars about deliberate strikes within the dialogue.
Administration officers have insisted there was no categorised info shared in both chat.
Additionally on Sunday, Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot, who lately left the division, penned an opinion piece for Politico wherein he wrote, “the building is in disarray under Hegseth’s leadership.” There was a wave of exits of high officers in latest days amid a probe for leaks.
Hegseth, a veteran and former Fox Information host, was defiant in remarks to reporters earlier Monday.
“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 reputations,” Hegseth said. “Not going to work with me.”
