Hegseth had a second Signal chat where he shared details of Yemen strike, New York Times reports

WASHINGTON AP Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth created another Signal messaging chat that included his wife and brother where he shared similar details of a March military airstrike against Yemen s Houthi militants that were sent in another chain with top Trump administration leaders The New York Times announced A person familiar with the contents and those who received the messages who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters substantiated the second chat to The Associated Press The second chat on Signal which is a commercially available app not authorized to be used to communicate sensitive or classified national defense information included people the person disclosed They also verified the chat was dubbed Defense Squad Huddle The New York Times published that the group included Hegseth s wife Jennifer who is a former Fox News producer and his brother Phil Hegseth who was hired at the Pentagon as a Department of Homeland Shield liaison and senior adviser Both have traveled with the defense secretary and attended high-level meetings The White House late Sunday dismissed the statement as a non-story suggesting that disgruntled former Pentagon employees were spreading false indicates No matter how a great number of times the legacy media tries to resurrect the same non-story they can t change the fact that no classified information was shared stated 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 The revelation of the additional chat group brought fresh criticism against Hegseth and President Donald Trump s wider administration after it has failed to take action so far against the top national defense administrators who discussed plans for the military strike in Signal The details keep coming out We keep learning how Pete Hegseth put lives at vulnerability But Trump is still too weak to fire him Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer posted on X Pete Hegseth must be fired The first chat set up by national measure adviser Mike Waltz included a number of Cabinet members and came to light because 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 National Safety Council and a Pentagon spokesperson did not right away 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 The Times published Sunday that the second chat had the same warplane launch times that the first chat included Multiple former and current functionaries have disclosed sharing those operational details before a strike would have certainly been classified and their release could have put pilots in danger Hegseth s use of Signal and the sharing of such plans are under examination by the Defense Department s acting inspector general It came at the request of the leadership of the Senate Armed Services Committee Republican Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi and ranking Democratic member Jack Reed of Rhode Island Reed urged the IG late Sunday to probe the informed second Signal chat as well saying that Hegseth must at once explain why he reportedly texted classified information that could endanger American servicemembers lives I have grave concerns about Secretary Hegseth s ability to maintain the trust and confidence of U S servicemembers and the Commander-in-Chief he added The new revelations come amid further turmoil at the Pentagon Four authorities in Hegseth s inner circle departed last week as the Pentagon conducts a widespread examination for information leaks Dan Caldwell a Hegseth aide Colin Carroll chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg and Darin Selnick Hegseth s deputy chief of staff were escorted out of the Pentagon While the three initially had been placed on leave pending the probe a joint declaration shared by Caldwell on X on Saturday reported the three still have not been communicated what exactly we were investigated for if there is still an developing study or if there was even a real assessment of leaks to begin with Caldwell was the staff member designated as Hegseth s point person in the Signal chat with Trump Cabinet members Former Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot also stated he was resigning last week unrelated to the leaks The Pentagon revealed however that Ullyot was petitioned to resign