What happened
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked the lives of military personnel when he disclosed highly sensitive information about a pending military strike in Signal group chats in March, the Pentagon inspector general found in a classified report shared with Congress yesterday, according to lawmakers and multiple news organizations. Hegseth violated Pentagon rules, the watchdog reportedly found, but it could not be determined if he improperly shared classified information, since the defense secretary can unilaterally declassify such material.

Who said what
“No classified information. Total exoneration. Case closed,” Hegseth said on social media. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said the “objective, evidence-based” inquiry “leaves no doubt” that Hegseth “endangered the lives of American pilots” and “created unacceptable risks” to their mission by “sharing classified operational details on an unsecure group chat.” Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, called the report a “damning review of an incompetent secretary of defense who is profoundly incapable of the job.”

The report’s release “comes at a delicate time for the former Fox News host, as scrutiny intensifies of his leadership,” especially over potentially illegal airstrikes on alleged drug traffickers, Reuters said. “Hegseth and his inner circle have been bracing for months” for the report’s release, hoping it “would mark the final chapter” of this “prolonged political headache,” CNN said. But instead, it could “compound existing concerns voiced by lawmakers from both sides of the aisle about Hegseth’s judgment.”

What next?
President Donald Trump “stands by” Hegseth, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said yesterday. An unclassified, redacted version of the inspector general’s report was expected to be released publicly today. 

What happened
President Donald Trump yesterday announced that the Transportation Department will roll back automotive fuel efficiency standards finalized last year. “People want the gasoline car,” he said in the Oval Office, with the CEOs of Ford and Stellantis and a GM plant manager standing behind him. The new rules would require automakers to produce cars and light trucks averaging 34.5 miles per gallon by 2031, from 50.4 mpg under the Biden-era rules. 

Who said what
The White House said slashing fuel efficiency rules would cut upfront costs for a new vehicle by $930. But drivers would collectively spend $185 billion more on fuel by 2050 and emit about 5% more carbon dioxide, environmentalists and economists said, citing the same Transportation Department estimates.

Watering down fuel efficiency standards is “the second part of a one-two punch” against former President Joe Biden’s push to boost electric vehicles, The New York Times said, after Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress got rid of Biden’s EV tax credits earlier this year. Since they also eliminated fines for violating the fuel standards, automakers can already ignore them, said Dan Becker at the Center for Biological Diversity. But future administrations will now find it harder to reinstate the higher standards.

What next?
The Transportation Department will likely finalize the new rule next year. Auto executives “publicly praised” Trump’s announcement but “have privately fretted that they are being buffeted by conflicting federal policies,” the Times said. The rollback also pushes the U.S. “further out of sync with the rest of the world, where the electric vehicle market is growing.” This will “signal to the Chinese that the world market is open to you and we’re just going to abandon it,” Becker told The Washington Post.