Pete Hegseth has his story, and he’s sticking to it.
The defense secretary touted Tuesday that he knew exactly what he was doing when he—and more than a dozen others—discussed airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels in a group chat that included a prominent journalist.
He also continued to insist that “Nobody was texting war plans” in the group chat, which contained high-ranking national security officials.
Speaking to reporters in Hawaii, Hegseth tried to shift the focus away from the leak of potentially classified information, despite other officials’ conflicting explanations for the stunning security breach.
“I would say the strikes against the Houthis that night were devastatingly effective,” the defense secretary said. “I’m incredibly proud of the courage and skill of the troops… the last place I would want to be right now is a Houthi in Yemen.”
The Trump administration launched an attack on the rebel group on March 15, killing 53 people. Goldberg later revealed in a bombshell report that he somehow got inadvertently added to the group chat, which was created to discuss the operational details of that attack.
“It’s a complete opposite approach from the fecklessness of the Biden administration,” Hegseth went on. “As I also stated yesterday, nobody’s texting war plans, and that’s all I have to say about that.”
Pressed by a reporter whether he regrets leaking information that could have put the lives of American troops at risk, Hegseth played it cool.
“Nobody’s texting war plans,” he repeated. “I know exactly what I’m doing, exactly what we’re directing, and I’m really proud of what we accomplished, the successful missions that night and going forward.”
Goldberg has shut down Hegseth’s denial as “a lie,” pointing out that the messages detailed a specific time for the attack, human targets, weapon systems, and weather reports—information which under typical circumstances would be among the most highly protected secrets of American intelligence.
Goldberg has also said he is weighing whether to release more of those texts as the Trump administration attempts to paint him as a liar.
The National Security Council, for their part, confirmed the veracity of the group chat to Goldberg.
“This appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain,” Spokesperson Brian Hughes said. “The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to troops or national security.”
Watchdog group American Oversight has filed a lawsuit against Hegseth and other national security officials who were in the group chat, including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The lawsuit alleges that the defendants failed “to meet their obligations under the Federal Records Act” by using the encrypted messaging app Signal to communicate and plan “active military operations.”
