House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is calling for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to be fired after The Atlantic‘s Jeffrey Goldberg revealed that he had accidentally been added to a Signal group chat with Trump administration officials in which military strikes against the Houthis were discussed days before the strikes occurred.
In a letter addressed to President Donald Trump on Tuesday, Jeffries described Hegseth as being “the most unqualified Secretary of Defense” in the history of the United States. Jeffries accused Hegseth of “recklessly and casually” disclosing “highly sensitive war plans” and added that he had “risked American lives and likely violated the law.”
“Pete Hegseth is the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in American history,” Jeffries wrote in his letter. “His continued presence in the top position of leadership at the Pentagon threatens the nation’s security and puts our brave men and women in uniform throughout the world in danger.”
“The so-called Secretary of Defense recklessly and casually disclosed highly sensitive war plans—including the timing of a pending attack, possible strike targets and the weapons to be used—during an unclassified national security group chat that inexplicably included a reporter,” Jeffries continued. “His behavior shocks the conscience, risked American lives and likely violated the law.”
“Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth should be fired immediately,” Jeffries added.
The letter from Jeffries comes after National Security Adviser Michael Waltz reportedly created a group chat on Signal, an encrypted messaging app, and included Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.
According to The Atlantic, several members included in the group chat titled “Houthi PC small group” were Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, and Hegseth, among others.
In the group chat, Waltz reportedly sent a message informing the group members that his deputy was “pulling together a tiger team at deputies/agency Chief of Staff level” and continued to ask them to “provide the best staff POC” from their teams:
A message to the group, from “Michael Waltz,” read as follows: “Team — establishing a principles [sic] group for coordination on Houthis, particularly for over the next 72 hours. My deputy Alex Wong is pulling together a tiger team at deputies/agency Chief of Staff level following up from the meeting in the Sit Room this morning for action items and will be sending that out later this evening.”
The message continued, “Pls provide the best staff POC from your team for us to coordinate with over the next couple days and over the weekend. Thx.”
Goldberg continues to write that members of the group chat reportedly shared the names of people who they were designating as their points of contacts, and Goldberg adds, on Friday, March 14, “things got even stranger” as a “fascinating policy discussion commenced” between members in the group chat as Vance expressed that he felt they were “making a mistake” regarding the strikes:
At this point, a fascinating policy discussion commenced. The account labeled “JD Vance” responded at 8:16: “Team, I am out for the day doing an economic event in Michigan. But I think we are making a mistake.” (Vance was indeed in Michigan that day.) The Vance account goes on to state, “3 percent of US trade runs through the suez. 40 percent of European trade does. There is a real risk that the public doesn’t understand this or why it’s necessary. The strongest reason to do this is, as POTUS said, to send a message.”
The Vance account then goes on to make a noteworthy statement, considering that the vice president has not deviated publicly from Trump’s position on virtually any issue. “I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now. There’s a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices. I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself. But there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc.”
While Joe Kent, whom Trump previously selected to serve as the Director of the National Counter Terrorism Center said there was “nothing time sensitive driving the time line” and added that they would “have the exact same options in a month,” Hegseth reportedly wrote that while he understood Vance’s concerns, “messaging is going to be tough no matter what”:
At 8:27, a message arrived from the “Pete Hegseth” account. “VP: I understand your concerns — and fully support you raising w/POTUS. Important considerations, most of which are tough to know how they play out (economy, Ukraine peace, Gaza, etc). I think messaging is going to be tough no matter what — nobody knows how the Houthis are — which is why we would need to stay focused on: 1) Biden failed & 2) Iran funded.”
The Hegseth message goes on to state, “Waiting a few weeks or a month does not fundamentally change the calculus. 2 immediate risks on waiting: 1) this leaks, and we look indecisive; 2) Israel takes an action first — or Gaza cease fire falls apart — and we don’t get to start this on our own terms. We can manage both. We are prepared to execute, and if I had final go or no go vote, I believe we should. This [is] not about the Houthis. I see it as two things: 1) Restoring Freedom of Navigation, a core national interest; and 2) Reestablish deterrence, which Biden cratered. But, we can easily pause. And if we do, I will do all we can to enforce 100% OPSEC”—operations security. “I welcome other thoughts.”
Goldberg continues to add that the group members reportedly continued to talk back and forth with each other. The next day, Saturday, March 15, Hegseth reportedly sent a message which “contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing”:
The only person to reply to the update from Hegseth was the person identified as the vice president. “I will say a prayer for victory,” Vance wrote. (Two other users subsequently added prayer emoji.)
According to the lengthy Hegseth text, the first detonations in Yemen would be felt two hours hence, at 1:45 p.m. eastern time. So I waited in my car in a supermarket parking lot. If this Signal chat was real, I reasoned, Houthi targets would soon be bombed. At about 1:55, I checked X and searched Yemen. Explosions were then being heard across Sanaa, the capital city.
Goldberg continues to write that he proceeded to leave the group chat after determining that it was real, and he reached out to several of the group’s members and sent them questions about whether the “Houthi PC small group” chat was actually real and if they knew that Goldberg had been “included” in the group, among other questions.
On Tuesday, Trump revealed that a “staffer and aide” to Waltz had added Goldberg to the group chat on Signal and continued to defend Waltz, noting that he had “learned a lesson, and he’s a good man.”
As Breitbart News previously reported, other Democrats such as Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) have also criticized the Trump administration officials after Goldberg was “inadvertently added” to the group.
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