The entire Pentagon is in total chaos after Signalgate part two.
The New York Times reported Sunday that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared sensitive details of a U.S. military attack on the Houthis in Yemen in yet another Signal group chat that included his wife, brother, and others in his inner circle. It’s the second time he’s done so in less than a month, after he and other members of Trump’s Cabinet discussed similar classified information in a Signal group chat that happened to include The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg.
The news comes amid a wealth of other chaos at the DOD. Just hours after the Times report, Politico published an opinion essay by former Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot detailing the building’s “full-blown meltdown” spurred by Hegseth.
“It’s been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon. From leaks of sensitive operational plans to mass firings, the dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president—who deserves better from his senior leadership,” Ullyot wrote.
First there was Signalgate, a scandal that Hegseth tried to lie his way through, instead of owning up to. Then came reports that the defense secretary brought his wife to classified meetings, and news that the Pentagon arranged a top-secret briefing for Elon Musk on China, behind Donald Trump’s back. To top it off, last week, a number of top DOD senior staffers were fired or left their posts amid rumors that they were leaking sensitive information, sending the building into “disarray under Hegseth’s leadership” Ullyot revealed.
“There are very likely more shoes to drop in short order, with even bigger bombshell stories coming this week,” he wrote. It’s hard to imagine what’s bigger than news that the man in charge of U.S. defense has shared sensitive military information over text, not once but twice. But, as Ullyot pointed out, “The Pentagon focus is no longer on warfighting, but on endless drama.”
As it did with the first Signal scandal, the Department of Defense denied that Hegseth shared any classified information, and framed the whole thing as a smear campaign from the media.
“Another day, another old story—back from the dead. The Trump-hating media continues to be obsessed with destroying anyone committed to President Trump’s agenda,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote, in a statement on X. “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. 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.
“There was no classified information in any Signal chat, no matter how many ways they try to write the story,” he continued.
The White House too stood behind Hegseth, despite an outpouring of cries from Democrats demanding he be fired to protect the safety of U.S. military personnel.
“The president stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth, who is doing a phenomenal job leading the Pentagon,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Monday.
“And this is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and working against the monumental change that you are trying to implement,” she added, offering a glimpse into the shaky disarray going on behind the scenes. It seems the White House is doing everything it can to avoid admitting that choosing a 44-year-old TV presenter with allegations of alcohol abuse to lead the U.S. military may have been a bad idea after all.