The White House is shaking again – minister leaked to family

New chat fiasco: Hegseth shared Yemen attack with family

Emil Forsberg

Updated 00.05 | Published 2025-04-20 23.10

Pete Hegseth with his wife Jennifer. Photo: Rod Lamkey/AP

The White House is shaken by a new Signal leak.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is accused of sharing attack plans in Yemen with his family, reports the New York Times.

Despite being warned two days earlier.

The information that was allegedly shared with Hegseth's wife and brother included flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets that were to attack the Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to sources to the New York Times.

Hegseth's wife, Jennifer, is a former Fox News producer who is not employed by the Defense Department, but who traveled with him abroad and has been criticized for sitting in on sensitive meetings with foreign leaders.

Hegseth's brother also does not have a job at the Pentagon, which would explain why he needs information about an upcoming military strike in Yemen, the newspaper writes.

Pete Hegseth kisses his wife just before he is to meet the press in connection with a NATO meeting of defense ministers. Photo: Virginia Mayo/AP

A source says that Hegseth's aides warned him in the days before the Yemen attack not to discuss sensitive details about the operation in the Signal group chat because, although encrypted, it is not said to be as secure as the government channels usually used.

lika säker som de statliga kanalerna som vanligtvis används.

Two leaks in the same day

The information was allegedly shared on March 15, the same day it was revealed that journalist Jeffrey Goldberg had been accidentally invited to a secret group where Hegseth, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Vice President JD Vance discussed an upcoming attack on the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Hegseth's spokesperson has chosen to decline questions about the Signal Chat, but says that the Secretary of Defense did not share any information that threatened national security.

Jennifer Hegseth in the background when Pete sits in a meeting with her British counterpart. Photo: Defense Department