New York Times Hits Back After Trump Calls Bombshell Pete Hegseth Report ‘Fake News’
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
The New York Times defended its reporting on Pete Hegseth’s second Signal group chat in a statement that appeared to hit back at both Hegseth and President Donald Trump dismissing the bombshell revelations as disgruntled coworkers trying to smear the defense secretary.
“We’re confident in the accuracy of our reporting, which revealed that the defense secretary shared sensitive information in a Signal chat that included his wife and brother, among others,” read the Times statement on Monday, adding:
The Pentagon has not denied the existence of the chat, and its assertion that there was no classified information shared in any chat is beside the point when it comes to our story, which did not characterize the information as classified.
The Times report from Greg Jaffe, Eric Schmitt, and Maggie Haberman roiled U.S. politics over the weekend as calls for Hegseth to resign began anew – following the first bombshell revelation that journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was added to a similar Signal chat earlier in the year.
“Pete’s doing a great job, just ask the Houthis how he’s doing,” Trump told reporters at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday.
“It’s just fake news. They just bring up stories. It sounds like disgruntled employees,” added the president. “He was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people, and that’s what he’s doing. You don’t always have friends when you do that.”
CNN’s Natasha Bertrand added some key context to Trump’s response, noting, “Beyond that, it’s also worth noting that 2 of the officials Hegseth fired—and Ullyot, who is now criticizing him publicly—were not admin holdovers or career officials. They were personal friends of Hegseth’s, brought into DoD by him.”
The Pentagon also released a statement Sunday night, saying, “Another day, another old story—back from the dead. The Trump-hating media continues to be obsessed with destroying anyone committed to President Trump’s agenda. This time, the New York Times — and all other Fake News that repeat their garbage — are enthusiastically taking the grievances of disgruntled former employees as the sole sources for their article.”
“They relied only on the words of people who were fired this week and appear to have a motive to sabotage the Secretary and the President’s agenda. There was no classified information in any Signal chat, no matter how many ways they try to write the story. What is true is that the Office of the Secretary of Defense is continuing to become stronger and more efficient in executing President Trump’s agenda. We’ve already achieved so much for the American warfighter, and will never back down,” concluded the statement.
