Scott Jennings Gives Pete Hegseth PR Advice After Latest Scandal: ‘I Wouldn’t Do Any More Media Interviews Right Now’

Republican strategist Scott Jennings offered some unsolicited advice to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth: stop doing media hits and do the job.

On Monday, it was reported that Hegseth shared information about forthcoming airstrikes on Yemen with his wife, brother, and personal lawyer via Signal, an encrypted messaging app. It’s the second Signal-related scandal Hegseth has been at the center of. Last month, The Atlantic revealed Hegseth shared the same plans with more than a dozen government officials in a group chat on the app. Additionally, Hegseth lost four staffers last week amid what one official called “chaos” at the Pentagon. The secretary has responded to each crisis by lashing out at the media.

“They’ve come after me from Day one just like they’ve come after President Trump,” Hegseth said on Fox News on Tuesday morning. “I mean, I’ve gotten a fraction of what President Trump got in that first term. What he’s endured is superhuman.”

Hours later on CNN NewsNight, Jennings weighed in.

“Yeah, I have some public relations advice for these folks,” he began. “If I were Secretary Hegseth, I wouldn’t do any more media interviews right now. The best way to prove you can do the job is to do the job.”

Jennings commended Hegseth for the airstrikes on Yemen and the Pentagon’s recruitment numbers.

“He needs to focus on that and just get a handle on doing the job,” Jennings continued. “The media piece, leave it aside for the moment. And for the White House, my advice would be, whatever guidance you gave the cabinet and your senior officials about the use of Signal and other encrypted applications, just release it. Whatever memo went out, whatever the lawyers gave everybody after the first Signal thing, just put it out so that everybody can see what directives have been given since the initial tempest in a teapot brewed over.”

Watch above via CNN.