Pete Hegseth, White House SLAM legacy media for ‘peddling lies’ after reports on second Signal chat

"What a big surprise that a bunch of, a few leakers get fired and suddenly a bunch of hit pieces come out from the same media that peddled the Russia hoax," Hegseth told reporters when asked to respond to the "Signal chat controversy" while attending the White House Easter Egg Roll. "They got Pulitzers for a bunch of lies."

"As they peddle those lies, no one ever calls them on it. See, this is what the media does. They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputation. Not gonna work with me," Hegseth said, adding that "anonymous smears" don’t matter.

The New York Times stated that Hegseth created a Signal chat in January titled "Defense | Team Huddle," which included his wife as well as other members of his professional inner circle such as top advisors and aides, and used his private phone instead of his government-issued one to access the Signal chat. The chat did not include other cabinet-level officials.

Two people familiar with the chat said that the separate Signal group had been created as a way to discuss routine scheduling or administrative information, and Hegseth did not usually use the chat to discuss sensitive military operations. Information was shared in that chat around the same time he was messaging the other Signal group chat that included an editor of The Atlantic. Some information shared included flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets targeting the Houthis, the outlet reported.

A US official told the outlet regarding the chat, "The truth is that there is an informal group chat that started before confirmation of his closest advisers. Nothing classified was ever discussed on that chat."

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Fox News in the wake of the report, "No matter how many times the legacy media tries to resurrect the same nonstory, 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."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, "The president stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth, who is doing a phenomenal job leading the Pentagon.”