The US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared critical information through a messaging app with his wife and brother, including details about a US military airstrike in March targeting Yemen’s Houthi militants, The New York Times reported.
The second chat took place on Signal, a commercially available app that is not authorized for sharing sensitive or classified national defence information, and included 13 participants. A person familiar with the messages and their recipients confirmed the existence of the chat to The Associated Press.
They further confirmed that the chat was titled “Defense Team Huddle.”
As per The New York Times reports, the group included Defense Secretary Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, a former Fox News producer, and his brother, Phil Hegseth, who serves as a Department of Homeland Security liaison and senior adviser at the Pentagon.
The revelation of the additional chat group has sparked renewed criticism of Defense Secretary Hegseth and former President Donald Trump’s broader administration, particularly over their inaction against top national security officials who discussed military strike plans via Signal.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer criticized President Trump, saying that even after learning Pete Hegseth put lives at risk, Trump remains too weak to remove him from his position.
“The details keep coming out. We keep learning how Pete Hegseth put lives at risk. But Trump is still too weak to fire him, Pete Hegseth must be fired.” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in a post on X.
Meanwhile, The first chat was created by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and included several Cabinet members. It came to light after Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was added to the group.
The contents of that chat, which The Atlantic published, shows that Hegseth listed weapons systems and a timeline for the attack on Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen last month.
The White House, the National Security Council and a Pentagon spokesperson did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment about the additional chat group.
Hegseth has previously contended that no classified information or war plans were shared in the chat with the journalist.
(With PTI – AP inputs)
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