Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used his personal phone to send information about U.S. military operations in Yemen to a private Signal group chat that included his wife, brother and personal attorney, according to The New York Times.
The revelation comes about a month after it became public that Hegseth shared details of those Yemen airstrike plans in a separate Signal chat with top administration officials and a journalist.
Hegseth has denied that what he shared was classified and blamed former staffers for leaking but calls are mounting for his resignation, including from U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-11th), a Navy veteran and member of the House Armed Services Committee.
“Make no mistake: By doing this, people’s lives are put in danger,” Sherrill said in an interview with NJ Spotlight News. “Those pilots’ lives are being put in danger because of possible preparedness by the adversary of ground munitions and stuff that could take out these fighters.”
Sherrill said, “This is just the latest in, I think, a series of, really a career of questionable decisions by Pete Hegseth. It’s why I never thought he was qualified to be the secretary of defense in the first place.”
According to NPR, the White House has begun looking for a replacement for Hegseth, despite President Trump’s public backing of the Pentagon chief, calling the incident a “waste of time.”
“I think what’s even more offensive is this sort of hypocrisy,” said Sherrill. “And suggesting that very senior capable people like the chairman of the Joint Chiefs or … the Chief of Naval Operations should not be in their positions and calling into question simply because, in the case of the chairman, he was Black. Or in the case of the CNO, she was a woman — calling into question their ability to serve. When in fact he was the least competent person that we’ve ever had as the secretary of defense. He suggests because he can do all these pushups, he is somehow qualified. We are seeing that, no, it actually takes a lot more to be qualified to be a leader in our military.”
“We need to, at a minimum, replace him with someone competent. That’s all I’m asking for is just basic competence so we can continue to protect the national security of this nation,” Sherrill added.
