During the annual Easter egg hunt at the White House, Trump defended Pete Hegseth in the wake of reports by The New York Times and others in the leftwing media accusing him of sharing classified military attack plans in a group chat on the social media app Signal with his wife, brother and personal lawyer.
The report comes a month after a journalist was mistakenly added to a Signal group chat in which US cabinet officials, including Hegseth, discussed plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.
"He's doing a great job. Ask the Houthis how he's doing. Everybody's happy with him. We have the highest recruitment numbers I think they've had in 28 years,” Trump said.
Hegseth weighed in on the controversy during an appearance on Fox and Friends.
"Remember when this all started, the first go-round? Because this is the second go-round, right? They peddle old stuff. They kick it back up. I said repeatedly, ‘no one's texting war plans.’ You know why I said that? Because I'm in the bowels of the Pentagon. I look at war plans every single day."
But Hegseth says what was shared over Signal was different. He insists that everything done at the Pentagon is above board trying to make sure they are safeguarding information.
"Informal unclassified media coordination and other things. That's what I've said from the beginning. At the beginning it was left-wing reporters from the Atlantic who got a hold of it and then wanted to create a problem for the President. This is what it's all about, trying to get at President Trump and his agenda."
Group chats aside, Hegseth has other concerns.
Three high-ranking Defense staffers have been let go amid an ongoing investigation into disclosures of classified information.
The shakeup could be due in part to what former CIA officer Scott Uehlinger calls weak vetting of employees.
The very senior nature of the positions leads to that possibility, according to Uehlinger.
“When you get to these senior support positions for politically appointed individuals, these people are kind of creatures of the swamp. They have functioned in the swamp in Washington for a long time. They know the ins and outs of being a chief of staff, of supporting someone in a political position.”
The New York Times reports there’s growing discord within the Pentagon which has slowed progress on some of Trump’s key priorities such as an “Iron Dome for America” missile-defense shield.
But Trump remains steadfastly behind Hegseth.
“No, he's doing a great job. So, it's just fake news,” Trump said.
