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AP, WASHINGTON
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US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth created another Signal messaging chat that included his wife and brother where he shared similar details of a military airstrike last month against Yemen’s Houthi militants that were sent in another chain with top US administration leaders, the New York Times reported.
A person familiar with the contents and those who received the messages, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, confirmed 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 13 people, the person said.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth looks on before a luncheon with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington on Thursday last week.
Photo: AFP
They also confirmed the chat was dubbed “Defense Team Huddle.”
The New York Times reported 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 Security liaison and senior adviser. Both have traveled with the defense secretary and attended high-level meetings.
The White House late on Sunday dismissed the report as a “non-story,” suggesting that disgruntled former Pentagon employees were spreading false claims.
“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,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly 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.”
The revelation of the additional chat group brought fresh criticism against Hegseth and US President Donald Trump’s wider administration as it has failed to take action against the top national security officials who discussed plans for the military strike on Signal.
“The details keep coming out. We keep learning how Pete Hegseth put lives at risk. 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 US National Security 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 US National Security Council and a Pentagon spokesperson did not immediately 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 reported that the second chat had the same warplane launch times that the first chat included. Multiple former and current officials have said 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 investigation by the US Department of Defense’s acting inspector general. It came at the request of the leadership of the Senate Armed Services Committee — Republican Chairman Roger Wicker and ranking Democratic member Jack Reed.
Reed late on Sunday urged the inspector general to probe the reported second Signal chat as well, saying that Hegseth “must immediately 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 US servicemembers and the commander-in-chief,” Reed added.
