President Donald Trump says he stands behind US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, after reports that he shared details of a March attack on Yemen's Houthis in a message group that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer.
The revelations that Hegseth used the unclassified messaging system Signal to share highly sensitive security details for the second time come at an uncertain moment for him and the Pentagon, where senior officials were ousted last week as part of an internal leak investigation.
"Pete's doing a great job. Everybody's happy with him," Trump said.
Asked if he remained confident in Hegseth, Trump said: "Oh totally."
"Ask the Houthis how he's doing," Trump said. The US military, under Trump, has ramped up its bombing campaign against the Iran-backed Houthi group.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt denied a National Public Radio report that the Trump administration had begun searching for a new defense secretary.
The revelations that Hegseth used the unclassified messaging system Signal to share highly sensitive security details for the second time come at a delicate moment for him, with senior officials ousted from the Pentagon last week as part of an internal leak investigation.
“The president absolutely has confidence in Secretary Hegseth. I spoke to him about it this morning, and he stands behind him," Leavitt told reporters.
In the second chat, Hegseth shared details of the attack similar to those revealed last month by The Atlantic magazine after its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was included in a separate chat on the Signal app by mistake, Reuters reported.
The second chat included about a dozen people and was created during Hegseth's confirmation process to discuss administrative issues rather than detailed military planning. Among them was Hegseth's brother, who is a Department of Homeland Security liaison to the Pentagon.
Leavitt said Hegseth shared no classified information on either Signal chat.
Hegseth's wife, Jennifer, a former Fox News producer, has attended sensitive meetings with foreign military counterparts, according to images the Pentagon has publicly posted.
A person familiar with the matter said Hegseth had been counselled against sharing information on unsecure systems like Signal before he did so last month.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Hegseth said:
"I have spoken to the president, and we are going to continue fighting on the same page all the way."
The latest revelation comes days after Dan Caldwell, one of Hegseth's leading advisers, was escorted from the Pentagon after being identified during an investigation into leaks at the Department of Defense.
Caldwell played a critical role for Hegseth and was named as the Pentagon's point person by the secretary in the first Signal chat.
"We are incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defense ended," Caldwell posted on X. "Unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door."
Following Caldwell's departure, less-senior officials Darin Selnick, who recently became Hegseth's deputy chief of staff, and Colin Carroll, who was chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, were put on administrative leave and then fired.
John Ullyot, the Pentagon’s former top spokesperson who stepped down last week, criticized the Pentagon leader in a POLITICO Magazine opinion piece. Ullyot alleged that Hegseth’s team spread unverified claims about three top officials who were fired last week, falsely accusing them of leaking sensitive information to media outlets.
At least nine Senate Democrats have called on Hegseth to resign since the latest news, saying the existence of a second Signal chat showed that he was not fit for the job.
Republican lawmakers, who control both the Senate and House of Representatives, have largely been silent.
But Republican Congressman Don Bacon, in an interview with Politico, raised questions about Hegseth's experience and said that such a Signal chat would be unacceptable.
Trump removed a number of defense secretaries during his first administration over policy differences or questions about their loyalty.
Hegseth, however, is seen as being in lock step with Trump. He has deployed thousands of troops to the border with Mexico, called on Europe to spend more on its defenses and taken aim at diversity in the military.