The White House has batted away reports the Trump administration is looking for a new Secretary of Defense after fresh controversy swirled around incumbent Pete Hegseth and his handling of sensitive military information.
Why It Matters
Hegseth, still within the first 100 days of U.S. President Donald Trump‘s second administration, has been a magnet for criticism over his steering of the Pentagon, not least his use of group chats outside approved channels.
While publicly supported by senior Trump administration officials, Hegseth has stared down increasing calls for his resignation from senior Democrats.
Reports trickling out of the Pentagon have painted a picture of disorder and infighting under the leadership of the former Fox News host and National Guard officer, who was an eyebrow-raising pick for the country’s top defense official in November. Hegseth was heavily criticized by Democrats and a handful of Republicans for what opponents termed a lack of experience and expertise.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
What To Know
The White House has started searching for Hegseth’s replacement as Defense Secretary, NPR reported on Monday, citing an anonymous official not authorized to speak publicly.
White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, called the report “total FAKE NEWS.”
In a separate appearance on Fox News, Leavitt said Trump “stands strongly” behind Hegseth and insisted the Defense Secretary “is doing a phenomenal job leading the Pentagon.” Trump himself on Monday dismissed the reports as “the same old stuff from the media.”
Several senior Trump officials have rallied around Hegseth to blame “leakers” for negative media coverage.
The New York Times reported on Sunday Hegseth had created a Signal group chat with 13 members, including his wife and brother, to share information about upcoming U.S. strikes on Houthi forces in Yemen at roughly the same time as a journalist was added to a Signal group chat of top U.S. national security officials in mid-March.
Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said last month he accepted “full responsibility” for creating the “Houthi PC small group” chat on messaging app Signal, to which Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was accidentally added. Trump officials insisted no classified information was shared in the group.
Hegseth detailed flight schedules for U.S. military F/A-18 fighter jets targeting Yemen-based Houthi militants in the second Signal group chat, named “Defense | Team Huddle,” at the same time as discussions were ongoing in the “Houthi PC small group,” the Times reported.
Hegseth, speaking to reporters on Monday, said “anonymous smears from disgruntled former employees on old news doesn’t matter,” adding: “They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations.”
Former Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot, said in an opinion piece published by Politico on Sunday that he believed Hegseth would likely be replaced in the near future, depicting “chaos” reigning inside the Defense Department under Hegseth’s stewardship.
The Pentagon declined to comment when approached on Monday. Donald Trump, Jr., said on Monday Ullyot was “officially exiled from our movement.”
Ullyot resigned from his position as the Department of Defense’s top spokesperson last week. The Pentagon said he was asked to leave his post, according to The Associated Press.
Ullyot said the Pentagon’s most senior ranks were “near collapse,” and accused Department of Defense officials close to Hegseth of launching “smear” campaigns against three senior staffers fired earlier this month.
Senior Pentagon adviser Dan Caldwell, deputy chief of staff, Darin Selnick, and Colin Carroll—the former chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg—had worked as senior Pentagon aides before they were fired last week under accusations of leaking information without authorization.
A March 21 memo signed by Hegseth’s chief of staff, Joe Kasper, requested a probe into what Kasper called “recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information involving sensitive communications.”
The memo said the investigation could include polygraph tests. In an apparent reference to this, Ullyot said “not one of the three has been given a lie-detector test.”
The three former aides said in an unusual joint statement on Friday they were “incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defense ended,” and claimed anonymous Pentagon officials “slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door.”
“We still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of “leaks” to begin with,” the joint statement read.
“Hegseth’s team has developed a habit of spreading flat-out, easily debunked falsehoods anonymously about their colleagues on their way out the door,” Ullyot wrote.
DNC Chair Ken Martin on Monday called for Hegseth’s resignation or removal, calling the Defense Secretary “a disgrace and completely unfit to lead the Department of Defense.” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has separately called for Hegseth’s dismissal.
Betting platforms such as New York-headquartered Polymarket registered huge spikes in the assessed chance of Hegseth leaving his position in the coming months.
What People Are Saying
Leavitt said on Monday: “This is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and working against the monumental change that you are trying to implement.”
Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, Republican chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said on Sunday: “It seems like the leak investigation at the Pentagon needs to continue to find these latest leakers. Secretary Hegseth is busy implementing President Trump’s America First agenda, while these leakers are trying to undermine them both.”
Ullyot said in his opinion piece published at the weekend: “The building is in disarray under Hegseth’s leadership.”