Trump Delivers Verdict On Pete Hegseth As Dems Demand His Resignation
In light of the calls for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s resignation following a leaked Signal chat that revealed details about a military operation in Yemen, President Donald Trump expressed his support for Hegseth on Wednesday.
After Hegseth inadvertently included Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic, in a Signal chat where he shared information about the strike with administration officials, Goldberg published the complete messages on Wednesday morning, prompting the president to address the ensuing controversy.
Following the uproar, as several Congressional Democrats urged Hegseth to step down, reporters inquired whether Trump believed Hegseth should consider resigning.
He has no involvement in this; Hegseth is performing exceptionally well. Hegseth. How is Hegseth implicated in this? Trump responded.
The president confirmed to DailyMail.com that Mike Waltz, his national security advisor at the White House, took responsibility for Goldberg’s accidental inclusion in the Signal chat.
“Mike Waltz,” I suppose he accepted responsibility. No one else was involved. When asked about the investigation, Trump commented, “I guess, I don’t know, I was informed it was Mike.”
Trump reiterated his dismissal of the controversy regarding Hegseth’s dissemination of classified information that could have endangered the operation, instead emphasizing the success of the mission.
“The attack was remarkably successful that night, so there was no damage done,” Trump asserted.
The president questioned the functionality of the Signal app and the rationale behind the Democrats’ calls for Hegseth’s resignation.
It’s all a witch hunt, you see. Trump remarked, “You want to know if Signal is operational or not. To be frank with you, I am uncertain if Signal is effective. I suspect that Signal may be faulty.
While it is not considered a secure platform for classified communications, the encrypted application that deletes messages after they have been read is extensively utilized for discussions in Washington, DC.
“You, we, and everyone else utilize Signal, but we must ascertain whether it is an effective platform or not,” Trump remarked.
Democratic Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego from Arizona called for Hegseth’s resignation due to his disclosure of information regarding the operation on the platform.
Kelly expressed on X that the Signal incident stemmed from having the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in history.
“We are fortunate that no service members lost their lives, but Secretary Hegseth must resign for the benefit of our nation and our military,” he added.
“This could have led to the deaths of our men and women!” Gallego posted on social media.
He further stated, “The Defense Secretary must resign.” It is embarrassing how incompetent they are and how they attempted to conceal it.
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In reaction, Hegseth criticized The Atlantic on Tuesday for mischaracterizing his messages as “war plans” and asserted that he did not reveal any classified information during the discussion.
The alleged “war plans,” which were disclosed by The Atlantic, contain: No names. No targets. No locations. No units. No routes. No references. No methods. “No classified information, either,” he emphasized. “Those war plans are utterly worthless.”
On March 15, Hegseth sent a ‘Team Update’ to the Signal group of senior Trump administration officials, providing them with advance notice of the timing and weaponry for the planned military strikes.
Hegseth texted, “This is when the first bombs will definitely drop,” disclosing the timing of the operations, which involved the deployment of sea-based Tomahawk missiles and F-18s.
Nevertheless, Hegseth asserted that he was simply providing a “team update” and that he had not revealed any “war plans.”
My duty is to deliver real-time updates to the team. “Everyone is kept informed with general updates in real time,” he remarked. What I did was that. That is my role.
Sen. Marco Rubio also responded to questions concerning the incident on Wednesday.
“Evidently, there was an error—a considerable one—and a journalist was included,” Rubio commented. “I hold no animosity towards reporters, but they should not be involved in that matter.”
Rubio referred to the Pentagon’s assertion that the text thread did not include any classified information.
“The operation and the safety of our servicemen were never jeopardized by any of the information contained therein,” he remarked.