Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth forcefully denied claims that he shared classified military plans in a group chat that included a reporter, calling the explosive Atlantic report “garbage” and accusing its author of spreading hoaxes.“Nobody was texting war plans,” Hegseth told reporters outside Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on Monday, breaking his silence following The Atlantic‘s bombshell article.
The story, written by editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, revealed that a Signal group chat involving top Trump administration officials discussed sensitive details about a planned strike on Yemen. Goldberg himself was reportedly added to the chat by mistake.
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“So you’re talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again,” Hegseth said, blasting Goldberg’s past reporting. “To include the, I don’t know, the hoaxes of ‘Russia, Russia, Russia,’ or the ‘fine people on both’ sides hoax, or the ‘suckers and losers’ hoax.”
According to The Atlantic, the Signal chat reportedly included Hegseth, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Vice President J.D. Vance, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. The group discussed operations targeting the Houthi rebel group in Yemen. Goldberg claimed to have been inadvertently added to the conversation, raising alarm over the casual handling of classified information.
Hegseth, however, insisted the claims were being blown out of proportion. “I would love to comment on the Houthi campaign because of the skill and courage of our troops,” he said. “I’ve monitored it very closely from the beginning, and you see, we’ve been managing four years of deferred maintenance under the Trump administration.”
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Despite downplaying the contents of the Signal chat, Hegseth reaffirmed the administration’s military objectives. “We will ultimately decimate the Houthis, which is exactly what we’re doing as we speak from the beginning, overwhelmingly,” he declared.
The incident has sparked calls for further investigation, with critics citing national security concerns and inconsistencies between Hegseth’s denial and the reported contents of the chat. As scrutiny intensifies, the administration faces growing pressure to clarify its protocols for handling sensitive information—and to explain how a journalist ended up in a chat where classified material may have been discussed.
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