White House defends Hegseth amid new Signal accusation, staff overhaul

White House officials defended Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth amid another round of controversies over the weekend, blaming the media and Pentagon establishment for resisting needed reforms throughout the military.

During an interview on Fox News on Monday morning, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump “stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth” and insisted senior leaders believe the embattled Cabinet official is “doing a tremendous job” so far.

“Secretary Hegseth was nominated for this position because he is standing up for the men and women in uniform who are putting their lives on the line to protect our country and our homeland,” Leavitt said. “Unfortunately, there have been people at the [Pentagon] who don’t like the change, so they are leaking and they are lying to the mainstream media.”

The New York Times reported Sunday that Hegseth used another Signal chat to share details of a military airstrike in Yemen, this time with his wife, brother and other individuals without security clearances. White House officials denied the reporting, confirmed by multiple other outlets.

The story followed a series of high-level firings last week, in which senior members of Hegseth’s core team were removed or reassigned — purportedly for leaking information, though they denied the accusation in a joint statement. In addition, Pentagon Chief of Staff Joe Kasper is also leaving his post for another job in the Defense Department.

“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,” the three fired officials wrote in their statement Saturday.

On Sunday, former Chief Pentagon Spokesman John Ullyot authored an editorial in Politico which described Hegseth’s operations as “a full-blown meltdown” that is distracting from Trump’s other goals and accomplishments.

“The Pentagon focus is no longer on warfighting, but on endless drama,” he wrote.

Hegseth lashed out at the criticism on camera during the White House’s annual Easter egg roll Monday.

“This is what the media does,” he said. “They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees and then they try to slash and burn people, ruin their reputations. It’s not going to work with me.

“We’re changing the Defense Department, putting the Pentagon back in the hands of warfighters. Anonymous smears from disgruntled former employees on old news doesn’t matter.”

The secretary did not address the criticisms that appeared on the record, why he’s fired so many members of his own team and whether he included his family in a sensitive group chat.

Hegseth made headlines last month for sharing advance military details of the Yemen airstrikes on a Signal messaging group which included National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, Vice President JD Vance and the editor of the Atlantic, the latter of whom was apparently added to the chat by accident.

Trump also defended his defense secretary at that time, calling his work at the Pentagon exemplary and needed.

Democratic lawmakers called the latest round of scandals unsettling and disqualifying.

“How many times does Pete Hegseth need to leak classified intelligence before Donald Trump and Republicans understand that he isn’t only a f*cking liar, he is a threat to our national security?” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., in a statement. ”Every day he stays in his job is another day our troops’ lives are endangered by his singular stupidity.”