Defense Minister Pete Hegseth used a second signal chat to discuss last month’s air strikes in Yemen with his wife, brothers and personal lawyers, Sumber told ABC News on Sunday.
In response, Senator Tammy Duckworth from Illinois asked him to “resign in a disgrace” in a statement on Sunday.
“How many times Pete Hegseth needs to divulge intelligence classified before Donald Trump and Republican understand that he is not just a liar, he is a threat to our national security?” Said Duckworth.
Defense Minister Pete Hegseth met with Defense Minister El Salvador Rene Merino Monroy at Pentagon in Washington, April 16, 2025.
Picture of Kayla Bartkowski/Getty
Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrats at the Senate Armed Service Committee, also issued a statement on Sunday, saying that he had a great concern about the ability of the Hegseth secretary to maintain the trust and confidence of US soldiers and commander commanders. “
Reed asked the Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General to include this incident in an ongoing investigation about handling the secret information of Hegseth.
“If it is true, this incident is another troubling example of the neglect of the careless secretary of Hegseth to the laws and protocols that must be followed by every other military soldier. He must immediately explain why he reportedly sent a secret SMS information that could endanger the lives of American soldiers to commercial applications including his wife, his siblings, and private lawyers,” Reed said.
-Abc News’ Allison Pecorin