Pentagon Responds After Report Says Hegseth Shared Attack Plans in Second Signal Chat

‘There was no classified information in any Signal chat,’ a spokesman said.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during the Central American Security Conference in Panama City, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. AP Photo/Matias Delacroix

The Department of Defense on April 20 responded to a report that alleged Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared plans for an attack in Yemen in a chat that included his wife and brother.

“There was no classified information in any Signal chat,” Sean Parnell, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said on the social media platform X.

Citing anonymous sources, the New York Times reported earlier Sunday that Hegseth in March shared details of forthcoming strikes in Yemen to a second Signal group.

Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer Hegseth, was in the chat, as were Hegseth’s brother and Hegseth’s lawyer, both of whom work for the Pentagon, according to the report.

The attack plans were said to be similar to those shared in a chat that included Cabinet members and whose existence was disclosed by the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic after administration officials said he was mistakenly added.

The Pentagon’s inspector general is already investigating Hegseth over the Cabinet chat.

Parnell said that the New York Times was “enthusiastically taking the grievances of disgruntled former employees as the sole sources for their article” and that the paper “relied only on the words of people who were fired this week and appear to have a motive to sabotage the Secretary and the President’s agenda.”

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement to news outlets: “No matter how many times the legacy media tries to resurrect the same non-story, they can’t change the fact that no classified information was shared. Recently-fired ‘leakers’ are continuing to misrepresent the truth to soothe their shattered egos and undermine the President’s agenda, but the administration will continue to hold them accountable.”

Three Department of Defense officials who had been placed on leave as part of an investigation into unauthorized disclosures indicated on Friday that they were no longer with the Pentagon.

Dan Caldwell, who was an aide to Hegseth; Darin Selnick, Hegseth’s former deputy chief of staff; and Colin Carroll, the chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, said in a joint statement that “unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door,” but that they are still supportive of the Trump administration’s mission.

A Pentagon official told The Epoch Times in an email, “At this time, no final senior staffing changes have been decided, and the Secretary will make any future announcements on his own timetable.”

Some Democrats on Sunday called for Hegseth’s resignation or termination after the report that a second Signal chat was published.

“Pete Hegseth’s reckless actions are directly endangering the lives of our brave service members,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) wrote on X. “As I said before, and as a member of the House Intelligence Committee, he should be fired and replaced by someone who can properly protect America’s sensitive information.”