Pete Hegseth doubled down on his own colossal security cock-up and ended up owned into next year
It will go down in history as one of the great security cock-ups of all time.
Eighteen senior White House officials including vice president JD Vance and defence secretary Pete Hegseth were sharing highly sensitive top secret military details including imminent war plans in a group chat.
Weird enough, you might think, but it turned out that group chat included a journalist, who was reading them along with everyone else.
Donald Trump did what he always does in this situation – denied all knowledge – while Hegseth, the former Fox News man who man people predicted was basically a mushroom cloud waiting to happen, went for a different tactic. He went on the attack.
But doubling down on his own colossal cock-up wasn’t such a good idea after all.
Reporter: Can you share how your information about war plans was shared with a journalist?
Hegseth: So you are talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who has made a profession of peddling hoaxes pic.twitter.com/JXegFXbdpP
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 24, 2025
Because everything about the story including the screenshots of the conversation had already been confirmed by the White House.
1.
This guy is a piece of shit who isn’t qualified to run a banana stand let alone the U.S. military. What an absolute disgrace. https://t.co/p82WeYY99t
— Brett Meiselas (@BMeiselas) March 24, 2025
2.
Oh for God’s sake, the administration has already confirmed the authenticity of the message. https://t.co/AxQGqqyux3
— Brit Hume (@brithume) March 24, 2025
3.
Hegseth is literally denying a story that the NSC has already confirmed and in which receipts were printed verbatim.
Remember this the next time he impugns another journalist. https://t.co/EVI6WH8gO2
— nxthompson (@nxthompson) March 25, 2025
4.
This is stunning. Don’t let this become normal.
They sent classified info to a journalist. It happened. The White House confirmed it.
And here’s the Secretary, viciously personally attacking the journalist and pretending it never happened. Trying to make us believe 2+2=7. https://t.co/P62wrg44j9
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) March 25, 2025
5.
BREAKING: When Pete Hegseth was just asked about the leaked signal texts, that the WHITE HOUSE CONFIRMED were leaked to the journalist, all he does is attack the journalist.
This is a sign of a coward with no defense. SAD! pic.twitter.com/SuRrdGrdrH
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) March 24, 2025
6.
The faces, the mannerisms, the anger. Reminds me of a belligerent drunk at a dive bar. https://t.co/p82WeYY99t
— Brett Meiselas (@BMeiselas) March 24, 2025
7.
Bro looks scared. He knows he’s lying. https://t.co/tDEFHHt9Ke
— Fred Wellman (@FPWellman) March 24, 2025
8.
It’s even worse than I thought, they texted a deceitful and highly discredited journalist with top secret war plans. https://t.co/iax2pC5Zk6
— Alex Tabarrok (@ATabarrok) March 25, 2025