Pete Hegseth faced strong criticism after reports revealed that details about a military strike in Yemen were shared in a Signal group chat. The controversy grew because journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally included in the conversation.

Despite calls from Democrats for Hegseth to resign, President Donald Trump strongly defended him. Trump said Hegseth was doing an excellent job and argued that he was not mainly responsible for the mistake.

Trump pointed instead to Mike Waltz, his national security adviser, saying Waltz accepted responsibility for mistakenly adding Goldberg to the chat. He suggested no one else was directly involved in that error.

The president also minimized concerns by focusing on the success of the military operation. He argued that since the strike was successful and no harm was done, the situation was being exaggerated.

Trump called the controversy a political “witch hunt” and even questioned whether the Signal app itself might have been part of the problem. He noted that many officials in Washington use Signal, even though it is not considered a secure platform for classified discussions.

Democratic Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego demanded Hegseth step down. They argued that sharing such sensitive military details could have put American service members at serious risk.

Hegseth denied sharing classified “war plans,” saying he only provided general team updates. He criticized The Atlantic for exaggerating the issue and insisted that no classified information was revealed in the messages.