Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Pete Hegseth: Why Donald Trump won't abandon the controversial Pentagon chief
Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger
Pete Hegseth: Why Donald Trump won't abandon the controversial Pentagon chief
Karl Doemens • 9 hours • 3 minutes read
Pete Hegseth demonstratively wore his notorious US flag pocket square in his jacket when he appeared on television on Tuesday. The interview on the right-wing talk show "Fox & Friends" was a home game - after all, the 44-year-old had hosted the Sunday edition of the show before his rise to Secretary of Defense.
The appearance was correspondingly self-confident: Hegseth claimed that the entire chat affair was an intrigue: "What was shared via Signal was informal, unclassified information for media coordination and other things."
Pete Hegseth with his US flag pocket square in his jacket. The entire chat affair is an intrigue, he claims.
The dashing former anchor, who likes to describe himself as a "warrior," has tried to downplay the questionable dissemination of attack plans against the Houthi militia in Yemen since the first revelations.
But new media reports shortly after the Fox interview have completely discredited this account: According to them, the information shared via the messenger app originated from a special communication channel of the Joint Forces Command for classified information.
Pete Hegseth allegedly copied information and fed it into two Signal group chats.
According to consistent accounts by several US media outlets, General Erik Kurilla, Commander of U.S. Central Command, sent a highly explosive message to Hegseth on March 15 via a specially secured government system. The message contained the times at which US F-18 fighter jets and MQ-9 drones were to depart shortly thereafter for the Houthi positions and later drop their bombs there. Hegseth allegedly copied this information unchanged and fed it into two Signal group chats, reaching, among others, his wife and brother Phil.
The general communication of attack plans via an initial chat group with government officials on Signal had already become known in March because Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the renowned magazine "The Atlantic," was mistakenly included in the mailing list. On Sunday, the "New York Times" reported that Hegseth had shared the same information via a second chat group, which included, among others, his wife, his brother, and his personal lawyer. The latest revelation refutes Hegseth's claim that the content of the conversation on the publicly available mobile app was harmless.
Hegseth attempts to portray explosive affair as intrigue
"It is simply impossible for God's sake that the beginning of an American military operation is not shrouded in secrecy," retired Marine lawyer Mick Wagoner told NPR. Security expert Kevin Carroll, who advised the first Trump administration, sees a dramatic escalation of the affair: Initially, it involved communication via an unauthorized channel among government employees. Now, he says, it is known that Hegseth knowingly passed on "classified information to individuals without the required security clearance": "This is more than a glitch. This approaches the kind of intent normally pursued by law enforcement." Former Democratic Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta made similar comments, speaking of "serious security breaches."
Hegseth, however, is attempting to portray the explosive affair as a conspiracy. After the first chat group became public, the Pentagon launched an internal investigation. Since then, chaotic internal wrangling has been raging within the US Department of Defense. Three of the secretary's advisors were fired last week. Hegseth blames her and other unnamed employees for the leaks: "They want to sabotage the president's agenda," he claimed on Fox News. "Once a leaker, always a leaker." Hegseth's chief of staff, Joe Kasper, was forced to resign after being accused of creating a "toxic work environment."
Donald Trump apparently wants to avoid a shake-up
Finally, John Ullyot, the former Pentagon spokesperson, resigned a few days ago. The secretary's right-wing former associate accused him of disloyalty and incompetence in a newspaper article. He reported that the Pentagon was in "meltdown."
Nevertheless, Donald Trump has so far stuck with Hegseth. "This is fake news," the president said earlier this week, brushing aside the new revelations. "He's doing a great job." Trump apparently wants to avoid a shake-up, which could also raise questions about the role of national security advisor Mike Waltz, who was involved in the Signals chat. He had also warned Hegseth against serious concerns about alleged alcohol problems and women’s issues.