According to the report, Defense Secretary Pete Hegses shared details about Iran-backed hoosies in Yemen against Iran-backed hoosies.
The New York Times first reported a second signal chat revelation surrounding Sunday’s military strike. These same attack plans were shared in another chat with leaders of top administrations last month after Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally added to the group.
The Pentagon pushed the story back, with White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt telling “Fox and Friends” that President Donald Trump was standing by Hegses.
The second chat has the same fighter startup time included in the first chat, and if shared before the strike, it could put the pilot at risk, which was said by several former and current officials.
Four people with second chat knowledge said the chat included his brother Phil, Fox News producer Jennifer, Hegseth’s wife, and his personal lawyer, Tim Parlatore.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegses will speak in Washington at a meeting with El Salvador’s Minister of Defense Rene Merino Monroy at the Pentagon on Wednesday, April 16th, 2025. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Jennifer Hegzes is not an employee of the Department of Defense, but she traveled with her husband overseas for a meeting with foreign leaders. Both Phil Hegseth and Parlatore are employed in the pentagon. It is unclear why any of them should be informed of future military strikes.
The second chat included 13 people. A person familiar with the issue spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. They also confirmed that the chat was called “defense” team huddles.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell dismissed the report as “another old story, back from the dead.”
“The media that hates Trump continues to be obsessed with destroying those who have committed to President Trump’s agenda,” Parnell said. “This time, the New York Times and all the other fake news that repeats the garbage, eagerly incorporates the complaints of a dissatisfied former employee as the sole source of the article.”
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Parnell argued that the Times sources were those fired from the Pentagon last week and “appears to have the motivation to interfere with the secretary and the president’s agenda.”
Parnell claimed there was no classified information in the signal chat. This is the answer that Heggs previously argued about his first chat.
The White House similarly dismissed the report as “non-class,” suggesting that a disgruntled former Pentagon employee is spreading false claims.
“No matter how many times legacy media attempts to revive the same non-story, we cannot change the fact that the categorized information is not shared,” said White House assistant reporter Anna Kelly. “The recently fired ‘leaks’ continue to misrepresent the truth to ease their crushed ego and undermine the president’s agenda, but the administration continues to hold their accountable. ”
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Former Pentagon spokesman John Ulley, who announced last week that he would resign without relevance to Leaks, wrote an opay on Sunday detailing what he called the “Moon from Hell” within the agency.
“President Donald Trump has a strong record to explain his top officials, and given that, it’s hard to see Defense Secretary Pete Hegses remained in his role for so long,” Uriot wrote.
He wrote that “this building is in disarray under Hegses’s guidance,” after following the horrifying crisis and communication advice from “his new public relations team” on the first signal chat.
Uritt wrote that Trump “deserves better from his senior leader.”
The first chat set up by national security adviser Mike Waltz included several cabinet members. The content of that chat, published by the Atlantic, shows that Hegses listed the timeline of Iran-backed attacks on the Houssis in Yemen last month.
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The second chat group’s revelation has led to new criticism of Hegseth and President Donald Trump’s broader administration.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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