Hegseth shared Yemen attack details in second Signal chat that included his wife and brother, report says
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth shared details of an upcoming military strike against the Houthi group in Yemen in a second Signal chat, which included his own wife and brother, according to The New York Times.
The paper says details, including flight schedules for the warplanes involved, were shared in the group chat on March 15.
The claims follow shock revelations last month that the upcoming strike was discussed by senior administration figures, including Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz on Signal, a commercial messaging up, instead of using the high-security communications systems available to them.
The story came to light because Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, had accidentally been added to the chat.
The new reporting claims that Hegseth’s wife Jennifer, a former Fox News producer, was included on a second Signal group chat about the Yemen attack, along with his brother Phil.
Jennifer Hegseth has accompanied her husband on official trips and Phil Hegseth works for the Department of Defense, but it was not clear why either of them might have been included in the planning for the airstrikes.
The New York Times also reports that Pete Hegseth’s lawyer, Tim Parlatore, was included in the group chat. The paper cites four people with knowledge of the chat for its reporting.
A U.S. official declined to comment when approached by the newspaper as to whether Hegseth shared detailed attack plans, but said there was “no national security breach.”
“The truth is that there is an informal group chat that started before confirmation of his closest advisers,” the official told the Times. “Nothing classified was ever discussed on that chat.”
The Independent has contacted the Pentagon for comment.
Hegseth created the Signal group named “Defense | Team Huddle” and was reportedly posting in it approximately the same time he shared the same details in the Signal group created by Waltz, people familiar with the group chat told the Times.
The defense secretary also used his personal phone to access the Signal chat, according to the newspaper.
In the days before the Yemen attack, aides reportedly warned Hegseth not to use the “Defense | Team Huddle” group chat to discuss any sensitive operational details. He was also “encouraged” to move discussions from his personal device to his government phone. “But Mr. Hegseth never made the transition,” the Times notes, citing people familiar with the Signal chat.
The chat included Hegseth’s senior advisers, Dan Caldwell and Darin Selnick, according to the Times, who were recently fired after being accused of leaking unauthorized information. The pair denied the accusations in a joint statement posted on social media over the weekend.
