Defence secretary Pete Hegseth linked to second 'war plan' leak after sharing sensitive info with wife on Signal
Topics: US News, Politics, World News
Emily Puckering
Featured Image Credit: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
Topics: US News, Politics, World News
The US' defence secretary Pete Hegseth has been linked to a second group chat leak which, this time, includes his wife and brother.
The second private group chat allegedly contained sensitive information regarding the US' air strikes on Yemen back in March, the BBC has reported.
This comes just a month on from the first Signal group chat being leaked when The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was accidentally added.
The first chat contained over a dozen senior Trump administration officials, including Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, the secretary of state Marco Rubio and several others.
Advert
Goldberg reported that the material in the text chain 'contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Iran-backed Houthi-rebels in Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing'.
He wrote: "The world found out shortly before 2 p.m. eastern time on March 15 that the United States was bombing Houthi targets across Yemen.
"I, however, knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming.
"The reason I knew this is that Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defence, had texted me the war plan at 11:44 a.m."
Now, it has been alleged that Hegseth has been linked to a second 'war plan' leak.
CBS has confirmed the leak with sources familiar with the messages, which were sent on March 15 under the chat title 'Defense | Team Huddle' and included flight schedules for American F/A-18 Hornets carrying out strikes on Houthi targets.
The Houthis are a Zaydi Shia Islamist political and military organisation that emerged from Yemen in the 1990s.
Two sources familiar with the contents of the Signal group chat, allegedly created by Hegseth himself, told ABC News that it included his wife Jennifer Hegseth, his brother Phil Hegseth, and his personal lawyer.
Jennifer, a former Fox News producer, does not work for the Defense Department, while Phil works as a senior adviser at the Department of Homeland Security and is detailed to the Defense Department.
Lawyer Tim Parlatore works at the Pentagon as a Navy reservist assigned to Hegseth's office.
The sources who spoke to ABC News also confirmed that this second Signal chat was originally created to discuss scheduling and administrative information.
The White House previously denied that classified information was discussed in the first group chat leak, and President Trump initially told reporters he wasn’t aware that highly sensitive information had been shared.
Trump also called The Atlantic 'not much of a magazine' and later appeared to be jokingly brushing it aside.
Tyla has contacted the White House for further comment.