President Trump on Monday came to the defense of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in response to recent reports about private Signal app chats and growing criticism from former Pentagon officials. Speaking to reporters during the annual Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn, Trump stood by Hegseth’s leadership and dismissed the controversy surrounding him.
“He is doing a great job… Ask the Houthis how he’s doing,” Trump said, pointing to ongoing military operations and emphasizing recent successes under Hegseth’s tenure.
Trump also highlighted what he described as improved military recruitment numbers and brushed off the latest round of reporting as politically motivated. “It’s just fake news,” he added. “They just bring up stories. I guess it sounds like disgruntled employees. You know, he was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people.”
The remarks came after The New York Times reported Sunday that Hegseth had shared information about planned U.S. military strikes in Yemen within a private Signal chat group that included his wife, his brother, and his personal attorney. This revelation followed a previous incident in which the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic was mistakenly added to a Signal group chat of administration officials discussing similar operations against the Houthis.
In both cases, administration officials have maintained that no classified information was shared. They have said the discussions did not breach any laws or compromise operational security.
Separately, former Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot, who recently departed the Defense Department, published an opinion piece on Sunday criticizing Hegseth’s leadership. In the Politico column, Ullyot described the Pentagon as being “in disarray” and attributed the instability to Hegseth’s management. His comments come amid an ongoing internal investigation into leaks and a wave of high-profile departures from the department.
Hegseth, known for his background as a military veteran and former Fox News host, addressed reporters earlier in the day and pushed back hard against the media scrutiny.
“This is what the media does. They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees, and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations,” he said. “Not gonna work with me.”