White House looking to replace Pentagon chief Hegseth over Signal chat controversy: Report

Washington, April 22 (IANS) The White House has started a process to look for a new Pentagon chief, a US broadcaster said following media reports that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth shared sensitive military information in a group chat that included his wife and brother.

Citing an unnamed US official, NPR reported that the process started, after The New York Times (NYT) said Sunday that Hegseth shared information about US strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen on March 15 in a Signal messaging chat.

According to the report by The New York Times, Hegseth shared highly confidential details, including F/A-18 Hornet flight schedules, with a private group named “Defense | Team Huddle,” which he created in January using his personal phone. The group included his wife, Jennifer Hegseth (a former Fox News producer), his brother, his personal lawyer, and roughly a dozen others from his inner circle.

The Times’ report follows an earlier disclosure by The Atlantic, which revealed the existence of another Signal chat, initially intended for senior national security officials.

Hegseth had already faced controversy over his reported sharing of details on strikes in Yemen in a separate Signal chat that accidentally included a journalist, Yonhap news agency reported.

Earlier in the day, President Donald Trump called the NYT report "fake news."

"Pete's doing a great job. Everybody's happy," Trump told reporters during the White House Easter Egg Roll event.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also dismissed the NPR report as "fake news."

"This NPR story is total FAKE NEWS based on one anonymous source who clearly has no idea what they are talking about," Leavitt wrote on X. "As the President said this morning, he stands strongly behind SecDef."

--IANS

int/rs