Pentagon chief had another Signal chat sharing details of Yemen strike: reports
Pete Hegseth’s second group chat, dubbed ‘Defence Team Huddle’, included US defence secretary’s wife and brother, The New York Times reported
A person familiar with the contents and those who received the messages, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, confirmed the second chat to The Associated Press.
The second chat on Signal – which is a commercially available app not authorised to be used to communicate sensitive or classified national defence information – included 13 people, the person said. They also confirmed the chat was dubbed “Defence Team Huddle”.
The New York Times reported that group included Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, a former Fox News producer, and his brother Phil Hegseth, who was hired at the Pentagon as a Department of Homeland Security liaison and senior adviser. Both have been travelling with the defence secretary and attending high-level meetings.
The White House late on Sunday dismissed the report as a “non-story”, suggesting that disgruntled former Pentagon employees were spreading false claims.
“No matter how many times the legacy media tries to resurrect the same non-story, they can’t change the fact that no classified information was shared,” said Anna Kelly, White House deputy press secretary. “Recently-fired ‘leakers’ are continuing to misrepresent the truth to soothe their shattered egos and undermine the president’s agenda, but the administration will continue to hold them accountable.”