Hegseth keeps White House backing amid ‘smear campaign’ alleging likely ouster
The White House is steadfast in its support for Defense Minister Beit Higseth, amid media reports on the imminent overthrow.
Higseth attracted the audit again in recent weeks after the New York Times reported on Sunday that it revealed details of a military air raid in March in Yemen against the Houthis in the chat of a signaling group that included his wife, brother and lawyer – about ten people in a total – on a personal phone before confirming it. HegSeth confirms that no information classified has been detected on the signal.
The accident is followed by a similar episode in March, where the editor -in -chief of the Atlantic Ocean Jeffrey Goldberg was included in a signal group chat with high -level Trump administration officials, including Higseth and Vice President JD Vance, and discussed the same attack on the Houthis. National Security Adviser Mike Walz assumed “full responsibility” for this chat error.
But the White House says it supports Higseth, and has argued that he had faced a “distortion campaign” since Trump took advantage of this position in December 2024.
Defense Minister Beit Higseth rejects the allegations of the new group chat as an attempt to sabotage “Trump’s agenda
Defense Minister Beit Higseth was scrutinized amid a new report on his use of the signal chat, which included his wife and brother, to discuss air strikes. (Franco Brana/AFP via Getty Images)
“The Minister of Defense is doing a tremendous act, and he brings a tremendous change to the Pentagon, and there are many people in the city who reject the huge change, and I believe, frankly, and for this reason we saw a staining campaign against the Minister of Defense from the moment when President Trump announced his candidacy before the Senate in the United States.
Levitt said: “Let me repeat: The president stands strongly behind Minister Higseth and the change he brings to the Pentagon, and the results he has achieved so far talks about herself.”
Higseth has received a violent reaction since Trump announced his candidacy for the Pentagon leadership, especially after allegations of sexual assault and abuse of alcohol appeared. In response, he told Higseth legislators during his confirmation session that he is not “an ideal person”, but he stressed that he was the subject of a “coordinated swab campaign that was organized in the media.”
Ultimately, no Democrats voted to confirm Higseth. On the contrary, only one democratic voice against Trump’s First Defense Secretary in 2016, retired General Jim Matisse Corps Marine Corps.
Higseth has led multiple reforms, including a series of efforts to reduce diversification, fairness and integration (DEI) in the Pentagon that he says according to executive orders of the Trump administration.
NPR reported on Monday that the White House was looking forward to the new defense minister, but Levitte immediately closed the report, describing the report “fake news”. NPR The story was based on an unknown unknown US official to speak to the media.
Meanwhile, Higseth confirmed that the second sign chat, like it, did not include “war plans”, and that all the discussions on the reference were not classified. Phil, the brother of Higseth, who works in the Pentagon as a communication with the Ministry of Internal Security and the chief advisor, according to Associated Press. The personal lawyer of the defense ministers has long been listed, Tim Parteror, who was assigned as the Commander of the General Judge of the Navy Judge before the sign chat, directly, according to the Times report.
“I have repeated and repeatedly, no one is sending war plans,” Higseth told Fox News on Tuesday. “I look at the war plans every day. What was shared on the indication at the time, and now, however, I was distinguished, it was unofficial and unknown coordinator, for the coordinates of the media and other things. This is what I said from the beginning.”
Meanwhile, even in the orbit of Higseth, he expects that he will not stay in office for a longer period.
John Ullott, a former Pentagon Communications official who resigned in April under the leadership of Higseth, wrote that the sudden extinguishing on Friday for three Higseth’s “most loyal” advisers – his assistant Dan Caldwell, his deputy chief of staff Darren Celnik, and the head of defense employees, Colin Carroll.
“The job defect has now become a great distraction for the president-who deserves better than his supreme leadership,” said Ullyot in one of the two articles on Sunday for Politico.
“Trump has a strong record in the position of his senior officials on his account,” he wrote. “Given this, it is difficult to see Defense Minister Beit Higseth in his role for a longer period.”
CALDWELL and SELNICK were included in the HEGSTH Group Chat, according to the Times.
Higseth’s details of Yemeni strikes shared the second sign chat: Report
Senator Jack Reed calls for an investigation into the use of Higseth for reference. (Reuters)
Democrats in the Senate also demand the resignation. Senator Jacques Reed, a doctor, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, asked the Pentagon Inspector to conduct a report on the use of Higseth for sign chat.
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“Since his nominated, I warned that Mr. Higseth lacked experience, competence and personality to the Department of the Ministry of Defense,” Reid said in a statement on Sunday. “In light of the ongoing chaos, functional imbalance, and mass extinguishing under the leadership of Mr. Higseth, those objections appear to have been on a good basis.”
“The accountability starts from the summit, and I have serious concerns about the ability of Minister Higseth to maintain the confidence and confidence of the American service members,” he said.
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2025-04-23 14:06:00
