'The White House is in denial', said Republican former Air Force General Don Bacon. 'They should just own up."
Hawaii is normally considered a tropical paradise to which Americans can retreat whenthey need a break from the hustle and bustle of daily life. But Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is currently in Hawaii at the start of his first – and quite possibly last – tour of the Indo-Pacific region as head of the Pentagon is finding no respite amid the leis and the macadamia nuts.
Hegseth’s future is hanging by a thread, after Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, published details of the Defence Secretary’s posting of highly classified intelligence into a group chat on the Signal app where top Trump officials were discussing plans to launch air strikes against Iran-backed Houthi commanders in Yemen.
Hegseth had insisted as late as Tuesday night that he had not trafficked in classified information on Signal. His boss, President Donald Trump, asserted in the White House that “there was no classified information” contained in the chat room. Rejecting claims that the nation’s secrets had been put at risk, Trump insisted the use of Signal was “glitch”, and then described Goldberg as a “total sleazebag” representing a media outlet about which “nobody gives a damn”.
In any other era, Goldberg’s latest revelations of the Signal group chat’s content would have instantly doomed multiple careers. Hegseth’s rundown of the precise plan for military action, including details about targets and the weaponry that would be used to strike the Yemeni capital Sanaa, runs completely counter to his claim that he followed national security protocols to the letter and may have broken multiple federal laws.
SANAA, YEMEN - MARCH 17: Thousands of people gather in Al-Sabeen Square in the Yemeni capital Sana'a, led by the Houthis, to protest against the attacks on the country, on March 17, 2025 in Yemen. Yemenis also reacted to the ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip by chanting slogans. (Photo by Mohammed Hamoud/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Houthi supporters in Sanaa, Yemen (Photo: Mohammed Hamoud/Anadolu/ Getty)
“Weather is FAVORABLE”, typed Hegseth at 1144 Washington time, 30 minutes before the March 15th military strikes began. “Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch”. He then lays out the precise timetable for military action, including plans at 1345 Washington time to kill a Houthi commander. “Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location” he types, arguing that a “F18 1st Strike Window…SHOULD BE ON TIME”. More than three hours of military plans are included in the chat, culminating with – at 1536 Washington time – “F-18 2nd Strike Starts – also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched”.
If Hegseth’s career should be hanging by a thread, the same can also be said for National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. He used the Signal group to celebrate the first success of the military strike on the Houthis.
“The first target – their top missile guy – we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building”, Waltz discloses. “It’s now collapsed”. Vice President JD Vance immediately responds to that news with the word “Excellent”.
The White House continues to circle the wagons, hoping – even as the story advances – to head off calls by Democrats and several former national security officials for top members of his Cabinet to resign. But there is a danger that they are instead creating a circular firing squad.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt falsely described Goldberg’s latest revelations as “another hoax written by a Trump-hater who is well-known for his sensationalist spin”.
Waltz, the man who first connected with Goldberg over Signal but today denies knowing how the reporter’s phone number ended up in his contacts, also pushed back. “No locations. No sources and methods. NO WAR PLANS”, he wrote on Elon Musk’s X.
“Foreign partners had already been notified that strikes were imminent”, he said, in a posting that failed to address the possibility that America’s adversaries in Moscow, Beijing or elsewhere may have been monitoring the Signal group.
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 26: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testifies during a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on the "2025 Annual Worldwide Threats Assessment," in Washington, DC on March 26, 2025. (Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testifies during a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (Photo: Nathan Posner/Anadolu/Getty)
The most senior official facing immediate danger of reprisals may be Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s Director of National Intelligence. Under oath on Tuesday, she told the Senate Intelligence Committee that there had been no discussion of operational attack plans in the Signal group chat.
But on Wednesday morning, shortly after the publication of Goldberg’s latest article, she told the House Intelligence Committee that her earlier answer “was based on my recollection, or the lack thereof, of the details posted” on Signal, claiming that she was “not directly involved with that part” of the conversation.
Democrat Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut scoffed at her claims, observing that the chat only took place a fortnight ago and it beggars belief that Gabbard, “in that two-week period, simply forgot [Hegseth’s attack timeline] was there”.
The Democrats’ leader in the House of Representatives, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, is leading the party’s calls for the Defence Secretary’s resignation. But whether Hegseth, Waltz or Gabbard find their careers upended by the scandal will depend on the depth of Trump’s determination to keep them on, and on their ability to retain Republican support on Capitol Hill.
In that regard, Hegseth may be in the biggest difficulty. In January, three Republican Senators – Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alsaka – voted against his confirmation, arguing that he lacked the relevant qualifications to become Defence Secretary. If they break cover with the White House and back calls for a full Congressional investigation, his position may quickly become untenable.
But so far, while several Republicans have described themselves as “troubled” and “concerned” by news of the Signal chat, on Tuesday they failed to endorse calls for the participants to face any kind of disciplinary consequences.
But on Wednesday morning, Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska urged the White House to come to grips with the gravity of the situation. “The White House is in denial”, the former Air Force General told the website Politico. “They should just own up to it and preserve credibility”.
Hegseth, in Hawaii, must now decide whether to press on to Guam, the Philippines and Japan or abandon his trip and return to Washington to face what could be career-ending music.