Trump stands by Hegseth amid ouster reports

What happened

President Donald Trump Monday said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was "doing a great job" and dismissed reports he was on the verge of firing him over a second instance in which Hegseth allegedly shared secret war plans on an unsecured Signal group chat.

The White House and Pentagon criticized but did not deny reports that Hegseth, using his private phone, posted the Yemen strike details to a group that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer.

Who said what

NPR reported Monday that the White House had "begun the process of looking for a new leader at the Pentagon." That's "fake news," and Trump is "strongly behind" Hegseth, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X. Trump and Hegseth blamed "disgruntled" former employees for leaking the story. Leavitt told Fox News the "entire Pentagon" was "working against" Hegseth.

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Trump views Hegseth as victim of a "smear campaign" and likes his "performance and 'look'" in front of the camera, The Wall Street Journal said. But "Central Casting can become problematic if all they're doing is generating questions of instability," a person close to the White House told Politico.

Trump is reluctant to fire Hegseth because that "would effectively validate the news reports detailing the mess at the Pentagon," Politico said. But "he's not out of the woods, because the turmoil inside the Defense Department is real." Trump "always expresses support for his team — right until he doesn't and you read about it in the tweet the next day," a person familiar with Trump's thinking told The Washington Post.

What next?

Hegseth should take responsibility for his security lapses, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) said, but the "ultimate responsibility here" lies with Trump for selecting an inexperienced "former weekend TV host" to run the Pentagon. If a Democrat did what Hegseth reportedly did, "we would be demanding a scalp," Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a former Air Force general, told reporters. "He's acting like he's above the law — and that shows an amateur person."