Report: White House Looking for a New Secretary of Defense (White House Denies It)

I would not be surprised to see a denial of this report, probably before I’m done writing about it. NPR is reporting that, according to an anonymous US official, the White House is now looking for a new Secretary of Defense to replace Pete Hegseth.

The White House has begun the process of looking for a new secretary of defense, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly…

This comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continues to find himself mired in controversy. NPR has also confirmed with the same official that Hegseth shared details ahead of last month’s Yemen strikes with his wife and brother in a Signal chat on his personal phone, minutes after being updated by a senior U.S. military official.

The NPR report follows a NY Times story published yesterday that says Sec. Hegseth was part of another Signal group chat last month which included discussion of the strike on Yemen.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed information about forthcoming strikes in Yemen on March 15 in a private Signal group chat that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer, according to four people with knowledge of the chat.

Some of those people said that the information Mr. Hegseth shared on the Signal chat included the flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets targeting the Houthis in Yemen — essentially the same attack plans that he shared on a separate Signal chat the same day that mistakenly included the editor of The Atlantic…

Unlike the chat in which The Atlantic was mistakenly included, the newly revealed one was created by Mr. Hegseth. It included his wife and about a dozen other people from his personal and professional inner circle in January, before his confirmation as defense secretary, and was named “Defense | Team Huddle,” the people familiar with the chat said. He used his private phone, rather than his government one, to access the Signal chat…

Mr. Hegseth created the separate Signal group initially as a forum for discussing routine administrative or scheduling information, two of the people familiar with the chat said. The people said Mr. Hegseth typically did not use the chat to discuss sensitive military operations and said it did not include other cabinet-level officials.

An unnamed US official said nothing classified was discussed on that Signal group chat.

“The truth is that there is an informal group chat that started before confirmation of his closest advisers,” the official said. “Nothing classified was ever discussed on that chat.”

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell posted this reaction on X after the story went up. He claimed this story is based solely on the word of people recently fired.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
4/20/25

STATEMENT:

Another day, another old story—back from the dead. The Trump-hating media continues to be obsessed with destroying anyone committed to President Trump’s agenda. This time, the New York Times — and all other Fake News that repeat their…

— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellATSD) April 21, 2025

This time, the New York Times — and all other Fake News that repeat their garbage — are enthusiastically taking the grievances of disgruntled former employees as the sole sources for their article.  They relied only on the words of people who were fired this week and appear to have a motive to sabotage the Secretary and the President’s agenda.  

There was no classified information in any Signal chat, no matter how many ways they try to write the story. What is true is that the Office of the Secretary of Defense is continuing to become stronger and more efficient in executing President Trump’s agenda.

We’ve already achieved so much for the American warfighter, and will never back down.

Politico also published a story critical of Hegseth on Sunday. This one was written by former chief Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot:

It’s been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon. From leaks of sensitive operational plans to mass firings, the dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership.

President Donald Trump has a strong record of holding his top officials to account. Given that, it’s hard to see Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remaining in his role for much longer.

The latest flashpoint is a near collapse inside the Pentagon’s top ranks. On Friday, Hegseth fired three of his most loyal senior staffers — senior adviser Dan Caldwell, deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll, chief of staff to the deputy secretary of Defense. In the aftermath, Defense Department officials working for Hegseth tried to smear the aides anonymously to reporters, claiming they were fired for leaking sensitive information as part of an investigation ordered earlier this month.

Yet none of this is true. While the department said that it would conduct polygraph tests as part of the probe, not one of the three has been given a lie detector test.

Despite all this, President Trump signaled his support for Hegseth today.

President Trump threw his support behind Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday and said the concern over Mr. Hegseth’s decision to share military attack plans in a Signal group chat was a “waste of time.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also reiterated the President’s support today.

President Donald Trump “stands strongly behind Pete Hegseth,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday morning, defending the scandal-plagued Defense secretary against escalating criticism from Democrats and former senior officials.

Hegseth “is doing phenomenal leading the Pentagon,” Leavitt said in a “Fox & Friends” appearance. “This is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and working against the monumental change you are trying to implement.”

Here’s a bit more of what she said on Fox News this morning.

.@PressSec: “The President stands strongly behind @SecDef @PeteHegseth, who is doing a phenomenal job leading the Pentagon.” pic.twitter.com/8exZQSJr5a

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 21, 2025

And sure enough, here’s the direct denial about the NPR story.

This ⁦@NPR⁩ story is total FAKE NEWS based on one anonymous source who clearly has no idea what they are talking about.

As the President said this morning, he stands strongly behind ⁦@SecDef⁩. https://t.co/5Npig8968v

— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) April 21, 2025