Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whom a former spokesman recently described as having "the month from hell," returned to his previous employer Fox News today to allege that media reports about his role in sharing sensitive military plans on unsecure Signal group chats are the work of "disgruntled employees" who have been fired for leaking to the press.
“Disgruntled former employees are peddling things to try to save their ass, and ultimately, that is not going to work,” Hegseth said.
The defense secretary’s appearance comes amid new reports that his disclosure of sensitive military information was not limited to a Signal chat group that mistakenly included a reporter and resulted in a bombshell story in The Atlantic last month.
The New York Times, followed by other media outlets, has now reported that Hegseth shared sensitive military plans in a second Signal chat group that included his wife and brother.
Hegseth today said he did not disclose any classified information via Signal.
“What was shared over Signal, then and now, however you characterize it, was informal, unclassified coordination for media coordination and other things,” he told Fox News. “That is what I have said from the beginning.”
Hegseth, according to media reports, shared flight schedules for F/A-18 Hornets that targeted Houthi militants in Yemen.
The Pentagon inspector general is currently reviewing Hegseth’s role in the controversy, which has become known as “Signalgate.”
The reports have prompted congressional Democrats and at least one Republican, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), to call for Hegseth’s ouster.
Meanwhile, Hegseth’s office is running its own investigation into media leaks. So far, three senior-level Defense Department staffers have been removed from their jobs, releasing a statement saying they believe they have been treated unjustly: Dan Caldwell, Colin Carroll, and Darin Selnick.
“[U]nnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door,” they wrote in a Saturday message posted to Caldwell’s account on X.
Hegseth told Fox that individuals who have been removed from their jobs were fired because they leaked to the media.
“[T]hose very same people keep leaking to the very same reporters whatever information they think they can have to try to sabotage the agenda of the president or the secretary,” he said. “Once a leaker, always a leaker, often a leaker.”
Caldwell has since appeared on The Tucker Carlson Show asserting that his firing was political because he opposes military action against Iran.
Caldwell served as an adviser to Hegseth, while Selnick was his deputy chief of staff. Carroll was the chief of staff for Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg.
Hegseth said he is open to the possibility that any alleged “leakers” could be exonerated, lamenting the investigation’s impact on his relationships with staffers he personally brought to DOD.
“If one or two of the guys are exonerated after an investigation, great -- that is what investigations are for,” he said. “But we took it seriously. It led to unfortunate places for people I have known for a long time. It is not my job to protect them; I protect national security."
Hegseth’s chief of staff, Joe Kasper, has also been removed from his job but transitioned to a “slightly differently role” and is “certainly not fired,” the defense secretary said.
“We make changes over time, and we're grateful for everything Joe has done,” he said.
On Sunday, former DOD spokesman John Ullyot wrote an op-ed in Politico saying the Pentagon under Hegseth has seen “total chaos” and dysfunction.
“President Donald Trump has a strong record of holding his top officials to account,” Ullyot wrote. “Given that, it’s hard to see Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remaining in his role for much longer.”
Trump, however, continues to back Hegseth, saying the defense secretary is "doing a great job."
Ullyot, who left his job at the Pentagon earlier this month, told Politico he resigned because he did not want to be “No. 2 to anyone in public affairs” at DOD.
In his op-ed, he also alleges that DOD aides are working to anonymously “smear” Caldwell, Selnick and Carroll.
“Hegseth is now presiding over a strange and baffling purge that will leave him without his two closest advisers of over a decade -- Caldwell and Selnick -- and without chiefs of staff for him and his deputy,” Ullyot wrote.
Hegseth told Fox today that “anybody who knows John knows why we let him go. He was moved along and asked to move along and misrepresented a lot in the press. We did right by him, tried to help. He's spinning it otherwise -- too bad. Politics, I guess.”
