White House press secretary says Trump backing Pete Hegseth following latest Signal app allegations

President Trump is backing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth following reports that he included his wife, brother and lawyer in a private chat on the Signal app about planned military strikes in Yemen, White House officials said Monday.

“The president absolutely has confidence in Secretary Hegseth,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the White House. “I spoke to him about it this morning, and he stands strongly behind him.”

It was the second time Mr. Hegseth was accused of sharing information on the Signal app about U.S. military operations against Houthi forces in Yemen. The first incident was disclosed after Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was inadvertently included in a Signal chat with Trump administration officials, who were detailing the mission.

The White House and the Pentagon have insisted that no classified information was included in either Signal chat. Defense Department spokesman Sean Parnell called it “another day, another old story.”

“The Trump-hating media continues to be obsessed with destroying anyone committed to President Trump’s agenda. This time, the New York Times — and all other Fake News that repeat their garbage — are enthusiastically taking the grievances of disgruntled former employees as the sole sources for their article,” Mr. Parnell said on X. “They 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 agenda.”

The allegations come soon after former Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot’s essay in Politico, where he said the Defense Department has been in “total chaos” since Mr. Hegseth took over.

“President Donald Trump has a strong record of holding his top officials to account. Given that, it’s hard to see Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remaining in his role for much longer,” Mr. Ullyot wrote.