周一，国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯(Pete Hegseth)对他在第二次信号群聊中讨论了3月份对也门胡塞人即将发动的袭击的细节做出了回应，其中包括他的妻子和兄弟。
在他和家人一起参加的白宫复活节滚彩蛋活动上，海格塞斯对记者发表讲话，抨击那些他认为“不满”的前雇员和媒体，称他们是“匿名诽谤”。
“我已经和总统谈过了，我们将继续战斗。一直在同一页上，”海格塞斯说。
总统唐纳德·特朗普在白宫庆祝活动上回答记者提问时，他为黑格塞斯辩护说，他仍然对他“非常有信心”。
“又来了。只是浪费时间。他做得很好，”特朗普在谈到赫格塞斯时表示。
“问问胡塞人他怎么样了，”总统补充道。
来源告诉ABC新闻Hegseth在一次信号消息聊天中分享了关于即将对也门胡塞叛乱分子发动袭击的信息，聊天对象包括他不为国防部工作的妻子詹妮弗(Jennifer)，以及他的兄弟和他的私人律师。
Hegseth没有明确否认该报道，因为他在周一被要求对这些报道做出回应。
“他们从心怀不满的前雇员那里获取匿名消息，然后试图砍杀和焚烧他人，毁坏他们的名誉。不与我合作，因为我们正在改变国防部，让五角大楼回到战斗人员的手中，不满的前雇员在旧新闻上的匿名诽谤都无关紧要，”他说。
据报道，第二次信号聊天发生在特朗普高级官员(包括Hegseth)讨论对Houthis进行商业应用罢工的同时。这条短信链之所以曝光，是因为《大西洋月刊》总编辑杰弗里·戈德堡无意中加入了聊天。五角大楼的独立监察长目前正在审查赫格塞斯使用信号来讨论军事行动。
超过36名民主党人公开呼吁黑格斯辞职或被解雇，其中包括参议院少数党领袖查克·舒默。民主党参议员亚当·希夫(Adam Schiff)要求国家档案和记录管理局(National Archives and Records Administration)对特朗普政府使用信号和其他非政府信息应用程序的行为展开调查。
美国广播公司新闻特约政治记者Rachael Bade政治报道，共和党众议员唐培根在一次采访中建议特朗普应该解雇黑格斯——使他成为第一个这样做的国会共和党人。
白宫新闻秘书卡罗琳·莱维特在“福克斯”节目上就最新披露的情况发表了看法&朋友”周一表示，“总统强烈支持国防部长赫格塞斯”，并表示赫格塞斯“在领导五角大楼方面做得非常出色”。"
使用信号来讨论敏感的军事行动可能会使正在进行的对涉及第一次已知群聊的潜在泄露的调查复杂化，其中包括高级助手和Hegseth团队的其他成员-其中至少有三人因与调查有关而被解雇。
这些官员-丹·考德威尔、科林·卡罗尔和达林·塞尔尼克-已经公开反对他们所说的对他们的毫无根据的指控。
4月19日，他们在一份关于X的联合声明中表示，“目前，我们仍未被告知我们到底因为什么而被调查，是否仍有积极的调查，或者是否真的开始了对‘泄密’的调查。”
莱维特在周一回应黑格斯新闻时，也试图指责前雇员，因为她为国防部长辩护。
“政府和总统采取了非常强硬的立场，反对任何人泄露，特别是敏感和机密信息，这可能使我们的部队和战士处于危险之中，”莱维特在福克斯电视台说。“你已经看到部长已经采取了非常强硬的措施来控制五角大楼的泄密者，我相信他会继续这样做。”
与此同时，一个监督组织正在就“广泛”使用信号对特朗普政府提起诉讼，认为内阁级官员未能按照法律要求保存政府记录。
该组织要求一名联邦法官宣布使用信号是非法的，并指示司法部长试图恢复“非法销毁的记录”。
美国监督组织最初于上个月就信号的使用提起诉讼，并获得了要求特朗普政府保留这些信息的命令;然而，在法官詹姆斯·博斯伯格发布命令后的几周内，多个内阁级别无法完全保存这些信息。一些官员保存了部分对话，一名中情局代表告诉博阿斯伯格，从中情局局长约翰·拉特克利夫的电话中无法恢复任何实质性的信息。
援引公开报道——包括关于海格塞思与其妻子和兄弟聊天的报道，以及关于存在20个或更多与外交政策相关的信号聊天的额外报道——《美国监督》认为，非法使用商业应用程序在特朗普政府中很常见。
“现在很明显，政府官员使用信号来处理政府公务是很普遍的，”它认为。
Hegseth blames 'anonymous smears,' Trump defends him after 2nd Signal chat revealed
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday reacted to the revelation he discussed details about an imminent attack on Houthis in Yemen in March in a second Signal group chat -- one that included his wife and brother.
Speaking to reporters at the White House Easter Egg Roll, which he attended with his family, Hegseth attacked those he said were "disgruntled" former employees and the media for what he said was "anonymous smears."
"I have spoken with the president and we are going to continue fighting. On the same page all the way," Hegseth said.
PresidentDonald Trumpdefended Hegseth and said he still has "great confidence" in him as he took reporter questions at the White House celebration.
"Here we go again. Just a waste of time. He is doing a great job," Trump said of Hegseth.
"Ask the Houthis how he's doing," the president added.
Sourcestold ABC Newsthat Hegseth shared information about a forthcoming attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen in a Signal message chat that included his wife Jennifer, who does not work for the Defense Department, as well as his brother and his personal lawyer.
Hegseth did not explicitly deny the report as he was asked to respond to the reports on Monday.
“They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees, and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations. Not going to work with me, because we're changing the Defense Department, putting the Pentagon back in the hands of war fighters and anonymous smears from disgruntled former employees on old news doesn't matter,” he said.
The second Signal chat reportedly occurred around the same time that top Trump officials, including Hegseth, discussed a strike on Houthis over the commercially available app. That text chain came to light because inadvertently added to the chat was The Atlantic's Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg. The Pentagon's independent inspector general is currently reviewing Hegseth's use of Signal to discuss military actions.
More than three dozen Democrats have publicly called on Hegseth to resign or to be fired, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. And Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff asked that the National Archives and Records Administration open an investigation into the Trump administration's use of Signal and other non-governmental messaging applications.
ABC News contributing political correspondent Rachael Bade of Politico reported that Republican Rep. Don Baconsuggested in an interviewthat Trump should fire Hegseth -- making him the first congressional Republican to do so.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, pressed on the latest revelation on "Fox& Friends" on Monday, said "the president stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth" and said Hegseth "is doing a phenomenal job leading the Pentagon."
The use of Signal to discuss sensitive military operations may complicate ongoing investigations into potential leaks involving the first known group chat, which included top aides and other members of Hegseth's team -- at least three of whom have been since fired in relation to the inquiry.
Those officials -- Dan Caldwell, Colin Carroll and Darin Selnick -- have since spoken out against what they say are baseless accusations against them.
"At this time, we still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of 'leaks' to begin with," they said in a joint statement on X on April 19.
Leavitt, when responding to the Hegseth news on Monday, also sought to blame former employees as she defended the defense secretary.
“The administration and the president have taken a very strong stance against anyone who leaks, especially sensitive and classified information that can put our troops and our war fighters at risk," Leavitt said on Fox. "And you've seen the secretary has taken very strong action to rein in the leakers at the Pentagon and he will continue to do so I'm sure."
Meanwhile, a watchdog group is renewing its lawsuit against the Trump administration over the “widespread” use of Signal, arguing that Cabinet-level officials have failed to preserve government records as required by law.
The group asked a federal judge to declare the use of Signal unlawful and direct the matter to the attorney general to attempt to recover the “unlawfully destroyed records.”
American Oversight originally filed its lawsuit over the use of Signal last month and secured an order requiring the Trump administration to preserve the messages; however, in the weeks since Judge James Boasberg issued his order, multiple Cabinet-levels have been unable to fully save the messages. Some officials have been able to preserve portions of the chat, and a CIA representative told Boasberg that no substantive messages could be recovered from CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s phone.
Citing public reporting -- including that about Hegseth’s chat with his wife and brother as well as additional reporting regarding the existence of 20 or more foreign policy-related Signal chats -- American Oversight argued that the unlawful use of the commercially available application is common across the Trump administration.
“It is now clear that the use of Signal to conduct official government business by administration officials is widespread,” it argued.
