SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
Washington: US President Donald Trump is standing by his embattled Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth after a damaging story revealed the Pentagon boss shared sensitive military information on a second group chat that included members of his family and his personal lawyer.
Hegseth did not deny the reports but dismissed them as the work of “hoaxsters”. Trump followed suit and portrayed the former Fox News host as the victim of Pentagon insiders disgruntled about changes he was implementing at the department.
President Donald Trump stood by his embattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after revelations of a second Signal group chat.Credit: AP
“I hear they’re doing that whole thing again,” Trump said of the US media, calling the issue a waste of time. “It’s just fake news, they just bring up stories, it sounds like disgruntled employees.
“Pete’s doing a great job, everybody’s happy with him. He was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people, and that’s what he’s doing. So you don’t always have friends when you do that.”
Those who wanted to know how Hegseth was doing in the job should “ask the Houthis”, Trump said, referring to the rebel Yemeni militants targeted by US air strikes in a campaign that began in March.
Hegseth was part of a group chat on the consumer encrypted messaging app Signal in which he shared sensitive details about the imminent military operation on March 15. The group was started by national security adviser Mike Waltz, who had inadvertently included the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, Jeffrey Goldberg.
“A few leakers get fired and suddenly a bunch of hit pieces come out”: Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth did not deny the substance of the story.Credit: AP
Goldberg’s later revelation of the group chat – and Hegseth’s decision to share the details outside secure government communication channels – astounded Washington and the US security establishment.
At the weekend, The New York Times revealed Hegseth created and participated in a second Signal group that included his wife – who is not a Pentagon employee – and about a dozen other people in his close circle.
The group, called “Defense | Team Huddle”, was initially formed to discuss administrative and scheduling issues but on this occasion, Hegseth posted details of the upcoming military operation, the Times reported.
Numerous Democrats called for Hegseth to be sacked, including Senate leader Chuck Schumer, who cast the matter as a test of Trump’s leadership.
“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,” Schumer said.
Appearing at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll for families on Monday, Hegseth did not deny the substance of the story, but said it was being peddled by people with axes to grind.
“A few leakers get fired and suddenly a bunch of hit pieces come out,” he said. “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. Not going to work with me.”
Hegseth said he still had Trump’s confidence: “I have spoken to the president, and we are going to continue fighting on the same page all the way.”
In a written statement, White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly repeated the government’s insistence that none of the operational details shared by Hegseth involved classified information.
“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,” she said.
“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.”
On Friday, Hegseth fired three top lieutenants who were accused of leaking. They posted a joint statement on X saying they had been slandered. Hegseth’s chief-of-staff Joe Kasper is also reportedly leaving his post.
Another person who recently resigned, former chief Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot, wrote an opinion piece for Politico in which he said it had been a month of “total chaos” at defence headquarters and it was difficult to see Hegseth lasting in the role.
“The building is in disarray under Hegseth’s leadership … and it’s becoming a real problem for the administration,” he wrote.
As defence secretary, the former TV anchor has commenced a program of swinging cuts. He ordered agencies within the department to identify up to $US50 billion in savings that could be reallocated to other priorities. The construction of Virginia-class submarines – which Australia is to purchase under the AUKUS defence pact – is one of 17 areas exempt from the cuts.
In line with the Trump administration’s priorities, Hegseth has also banned initiatives that promote diversity and prohibited transgender people from joining or serving in the military, a move that is being challenged in court.
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