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Donald Trump is standing with Pete Hegseth following discoveries of a new signal of signal in which the US Secretary of Defense reportedly shared significant information about last month’s military attacks in Yemen with family members.
On Monday morning, while Democrats demanded that Hegseth withdraw from his post, the US president said he continued to support the Secretary of Defense, a former Fox News.
“He’s doing a great job,” Trump said as he was waiting for the annual Easter egg roller in the White House. “Ask Houthis how he is doing,” the US president added, referring to the Iranian -backed rebellious group operating in Yemen who was targeted by Sha
Earlier in the day, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump “stands firmly behind” Hegseth and “absolutely confident in him”.
Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, issued a statement saying that “no classified information was shared” in the signal conversations by Hegseth.
She also attacked the “recently rested” to “continuing the abuse of truth to calm their shattered egos and undermine the president’s agenda.”
New York Times reported that Hegseth shared sensitive information about strikes in a group of conversation that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer.
The new accusations come weeks after the Atlantic published excerpts of a separate group of signal conversations in which Hegseth posted the detailed time of military strikes in Yemen and incorrectly added to the editor of the magazine.
The furnace about the signal conversations has been complicated by allegations of wider pentagon riots since he took office as Secretary of Defense, including last week’s resignation of John Ullot, a senior communication official.
“It has been a month of total chaos in the Pentagon. From the flow of sensitive operational plans to mass fires, malfunction is now a major distraction for the president who deserves best from his senior leadership,” Ullot wrote in an OP-ED for Politico on Sunday. “Hard hard to see the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth remaining in his role for much longer,” he added.
Original signal conversation involving senior officials discussing sensitive information about strikes against Houthis has also launched a cloud on the future of Mike Waltz, the US National Security Adviser, who is responsible for coordinating foreign policy and defense at the White House.
But the pressure is more intense in Hegseth in the wake of the latest discoveries, with some Democrats renewing their calls for him to withdraw.
“Our army and our country deserve serious leaders. If he cared for the institution he is leading, he must rise, admit that he is a distraction for the army’s mission and resign,” wrote Elissa Slotkin’s Senator from Michigan on Sunday.
Jack Reed, the High Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, stopped calling for Hegseth to resign, but said in a statement: “I have great concerns about the ability of Secretary Hegseth to maintain the trust and confidence of the members of the US service and the Commander -in -Chief.”
Hegseth has remained protected in the face of criticism. He was also in Roll Egg Egg at the White House and attacked the “media” and “formerly unhappy employees” for trying to “slam and burn people”. “It won’t work with me,” he told reporters at the event on Monday.