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The White House has said it is standing by Pete Hegseth following revelations of a new Signal chat in which the US defence secretary is said to have shared sensitive information about last month’s US military strikes in Yemen with family members.
On Monday morning, as Democrats called for Hegseth to step down from his post, White House officials said the US president continued to support the defence secretary, a former Fox News host.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump “stands strongly behind” Hegseth and “absolutely has confidence in him”.
Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, issued a statement saying that “no classified information was shared”.
She also attacked “recently fired ‘leakers’” for what she described as “continuing to misrepresent the truth to soothe their shattered egos and undermine the President’s agenda”.
The New York Times on Sunday reported that Hegseth shared sensitive information about the strikes in a chat group that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer.
The new accusations come weeks after The Atlantic published excerpts of a separate Signal chat group into which the magazine’s editor had been erroneously added in which Hegseth posted detailed timings of military strikes in Yemen.
This is a developing story
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