Hegseth Blasts Media, ‘Disgruntled Former Employees’ Over Signal Controversy

These claims intensified scrutiny from lawmakers and prompted calls from several Democrats for Hegseth to step down.

Trump, however, has repeatedly defended Hegseth. Addressing reporters, the president said Hegseth was doing “a great job” and downplayed his role in the controversy. Trump also noted that Mike Waltz, his national security adviser, had taken responsibility for mistakenly adding Goldberg to the original group chat.

Trump further minimized concerns by pointing to the success of the military operation itself. He argued that no harm resulted from the incident and emphasized that the mission achieved its objectives.