GOP Senators Defend Hegseth Following Signal Chat Leak, Dismiss Calls for His Firing
- Pete Hegseth's younger brother, Phil Hegseth, is serving in a key position as senior adviser to the secretary for the Department of Homeland Security and liaison officer to the Defense Department.
- Border security, a top priority for President Trump, is the responsibility of DHS, leading to the deployment of thousands of U.S. Troops to assist with curbing illegal immigration.
- Phil Hegseth's responsibilities include conducting touch points with U.S. Coast Guard officials related to the Secretary's Indo-Pacific trip, which includes stops in Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines, and Japan, as well as meetings with representatives from Homeland Security Investigations.
- Previously, Pete Hegseth, as CEO of Concerned Veterans for America, a nonprofit, paid his brother Phil $108,000 for media relations, according to federal tax records, while the organization experienced financial difficulty.
- Federal employment law expert Michael Fallings of Tully Rinckey PLLC, specializing in federal employment law, stated that such hiring practices don't "pass the smell test," and further review is needed to determine if Phil Hegseth's hiring violated the 1967 federal nepotism law.
215 Articles
215 Articles
Letter to the editor: Security fiasco
During the confirmation hearings I wrote to Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., asking who was going to supervise Hegseth. Evidently, I should have asked that about everybody in the Signal group chat security fiasco. Apparently, none of them care to practice…

Trump officials add teenage girls to Signal chat in ‘SNL' cold open
In the sketch comedy show‘s first episode back since the Signal scandal – which involved top Trump administration officials sharing attack plans in a Signal chat that included journalist Jeffrey Goldberg – the cast spared no time in poking fun at the incident. “FYI – Green light on Yemen raid!” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, played by “SNL” cast member Andrew Dismukes, sent to a Signal chat shared with several teenage girls. “Tomahawks airbo…
NBC News Exclusive: Trump defends Hegseth, Waltz amid Signal group chat controversy
In an NBC News exclusive interview on Saturday, President Trump spoke on the phone with "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker about the controversy surrounding a Signal group chat that a journalist was included in detailing U.S. military strike plans, his plans for reciprocal tariffs, along with his interest in potentially annexing Greenland.
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