Hegseth blames ousted officials for leaks about use of Signal

The embattled US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, has defended his most recent use of the encrypted messaging app Signal to discuss sensitive military operations, blaming fired Pentagon officials for orchestrating leaks against the Trump administration.

- Joseph Gedeon

In an interview with former colleagues at Fox News yesterday, Hegseth suggested the problems stemmed from former officials, appointed by this administration, for leaking information to damage him and Donald Trump, adding that there was an internal investigation and that evidence would eventually be handed to the justice department.

"When you dismiss people who you believe are leaking classified information... Why would it surprise anybody if those very same people keep leaking to the very same reporters whatever information they think they can have to try to sabotage the agenda of the president or the secretary?" Hegseth said.

In a statement posted on X over the weekend, the three dismissed top officials - Dan Caldwell, Colin Carroll and Darin Selnick - said they were "incredibly disappointed" by the way they were removed, adding that "unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door".