Hegseth’s future is hanging by a thread, after Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, published details of the Defence Secretary’s posting of highly classified intelligence into a group chat on the Signal app where top Trump officials were discussing plans to launch air strikes against Iran-backed Houthi commanders in Yemen.
In any other era, Goldberg’s latest revelations of the Signal group chat’s content would have instantly doomed multiple careers. Hegseth’s rundown of the precise plan for military action, including details about targets and the weaponry that would be used to strike the Yemeni capital Sanaa, runs completely counter to his claim that he followed national security protocols to the letter and may have broken multiple federal laws.
Houthi supporters in Sanaa, Yemen (Photo: Mohammed Hamoud/Anadolu/ Getty)If Hegseth’s career should be hanging by a thread, the same can also be said for National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. He used the Signal group to celebrate the first success of the military strike on the Houthis.
The White House continues to circle the wagons, hoping – even as the story advances – to head off calls by Democrats and several former national security officials for top members of his Cabinet to resign. But there is a danger that they are instead creating a circular firing squad.
Waltz, the man who first connected with Goldberg over Signal but today denies knowing how the reporter’s phone number ended up in his contacts, also pushed back. “No locations. No sources and methods. NO WAR PLANS”, he wrote on Elon Musk’s X.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testifies during a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (Photo: Nathan Posner/Anadolu/Getty)
The most senior official facing immediate danger of reprisals may be Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s Director of National Intelligence. Under oath on Tuesday, she told the Senate Intelligence Committee that there had been no discussion of operational attack plans in the Signal group chat.
Democrat Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut scoffed at her claims, observing that the chat only took place a fortnight ago and it beggars belief that Gabbard, “in that two-week period, simply forgot [Hegseth’s attack timeline] was there”.
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In that regard, Hegseth may be in the biggest difficulty. In January, three Republican Senators – Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alsaka – voted against his confirmation, arguing that he lacked the relevant qualifications to become Defence Secretary. If they break cover with the White House and back calls for a full Congressional investigation, his position may quickly become untenable.
But on Wednesday morning, Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska urged the White House to come to grips with the gravity of the situation. “The White House is in denial”, the former Air Force General told the website Politico. “They should just own up to it and preserve credibility”.
Hegseth, in Hawaii, must now decide whether to press on to Guam, the Philippines and Japan or abandon his trip and return to Washington to face what could be career-ending music.
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