The U.S. defense department (Pentagon) denied on April 20 that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared information about strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen in a private Signal chat that included his wife, brother, and personal lawyer.
The Pentagon's statement came after the New York Times (NYT) reported, citing its sources, that Hegseth shared details of the attacks on Yemen on March 15 in the Signal chat. Hegseth reportedly mentioned the schedule of F/A-18 Hornets flights against the Houthis in Yemen.
Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesperson, denied that Hegseth would disseminate sensitive information in the chat, accusing the media of "enthusiastically taking the grievances of disgruntled former employees as the sole sources for their stories."
"They (the media) relied only on the words of people who were fired this week and appear to have a motive to sabotage the Secretary and the President's (Donald Trump) agenda," Parnell said. "There was no classified information in any Signal chat, no matter how many ways they try to write the story."
John Ullyot, the former top Defense Department spokesperson, wrote in an op-ed for Politico that the Pentagon has been in "total chaos" under Hegseth's leadership, even suggesting that the official may not last "much longer."
The story about Hegseth also coincides with the Washington Post (WP) reporting an improper transfer of confidential documents to thousands of federal employees, including potentially classified White House floor plans.
The WP's investigation revealed that employees had accidentally shared a Google Drive folder containing confidential documents with the entire General Services Administration (GSA) staff, which totals over 11,200 people. The GSA provides administrative and technological support to most federal bureaucracies and manages the state real estate portfolio.