Citing sources close to the matter, multiple media have reported US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth created a Signal group chat where he shared details of a March military airstrike on Houthi militants in Yemen with individuals including his wife and brother.
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According to multiple media reports, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth created a second Signal group chat, which included his wife and brother, where he shared information of a military airstrike in March on Yemen's Houthi militants.
The latest revelation comes after it emerged in late March that Hegseth had also shared the strike details in a separate chat with top administration officials and, apparently in error, a journalist.
The existence of a second chat was initially reported by the New York Times, and later confirmed separately by CNN. A person familiar with the chat's content and the individuals who received the messages also confirmed the chat to the Associated Press.
The chat included 13 people, according to the source, and was named "Defence | Team Huddle."
According to the New York Times report, the group included Hegseth's wife, Fox News producer Jennifer Hegseth and his brother Phil Hegseth, who works at the Pentagon as a Department of Homeland Security liaison and senior adviser.
The White House rejected the veracity of the report, referring to it as a "non-story" and suggesting that it was spread by disgruntled former Pentagon employees.
“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,” said Anna Kelly, White House deputy press secretary.
She added that people leaking information are seeking to undermine US President Donald Trump's agenda, and that administration will "continue to hold them accountable."
The latest revelation regarding sensitive information on military action being communicated via Signal - a commercially available app that is not considered appropriate for the sharing of sensitive or classified national defence information - has brought a fresh wave of criticism against Hegseth and the Trump administration in general, which took no action against top national security officials who discussed plans on the app.
A Pentagon watchdog said at the time it is reviewing the Defence Secretary's use of the publicly available encrypted app, as well as that of of other defence officials.
The first chat was set up by national security adviser Mike Waltz and included several cabinet members, and came to light because Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was also added the group.
The contents of the chat, as published by The Atlantic, showed that Hegseth listed weapons systems and warplane launch times related to an attack on Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. Hegseth himself maintained that no classified information or war plans were shared.