White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt didn’t mince words Monday, firing back at an NPR report claiming the administration is quietly searching for a new secretary of defense.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Leavitt dismissed the story as “fake news” and reaffirmed that President Trump has full confidence in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — echoing remarks she made earlier during an appearance on Fox News.
At the center of the controversy are revelations that Hegseth shared sensitive details about a planned U.S. airstrike in Yemen through a private Signal chat. According to a New York Times report published Sunday — later corroborated by The Wall Street Journal — the previously unreported March 15 exchange included Hegseth’s wife, brother and personal attorney.
Hegseth allegedly disclosed the timing of F/A-18 Hornet aircraft departures for an operation targeting Houthi terrorists. The Signal group, titled Defense | Team Huddle, was reportedly used for both personal and professional updates — but in this instance, it included highly sensitive operational information.
The incident follows a previous misstep involving another Signal chat, where a conversation between top administration officials — including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance — was accidentally shared with a prominent liberal journalist from The Atlantic.
The Pentagon inspector general’s office has launched an inquiry to assess whether the use of a platform like Signal violated protocols for handling certain information.
Despite the growing pressure, the administration has shown no public sign of backing away from Hegseth. In addition to Leavitt’s denial of the NPR story, Trump himself has brushed off concerns over Hegseth’s Signal chats.
The White House may be banking on a unified public front to contain the fallout.
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Deep State bogus BS media lies
I think it’s safe to say that we are ALL behind Pete. This NPR nastiness is the very reason that all government funding for them needs to be cut off. If they are predisposed to do left-wing bidding and promote fake news, it must not be with the use of taxpayer money. That these poor excuses for legitimate news outlets use taxpayer money to promote leftist programs and platforms is a crime in itself, and this must stop immediately. Pete is definitely a threat to leftist dreams and their hope of overthrowing the government in this country.