Jeffries urges Trump to fire Defense Secretary Hegseth over ‘Signal Gate’

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries says Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth should be “fired immediately,” accusing him of jeopardizing national security by disclosing sensitive military plans in an unsecured communication channel that included a journalist.

In a letter addressed to President Donald Trump on Tuesday, Jeffries described Hegseth as “the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in American history,” and said his continued presence in the role “threatens the nation’s security and puts our brave men and women in uniform throughout the world in danger.”

Jeffries said Hegseth “recklessly and casually disclosed highly sensitive war plans—including the timing of a pending attack, possible strike targets and the weapons to be used—during an unclassified national security group chat that inexplicably included a reporter.” He concluded by saying “Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth should be fired immediately.”

The White House rejected Jeffries call. “President Trump has assembled an all-star national security team that continues to deliver win after win for the American people at home and abroad,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement.

“Hakeem Jeffries should spend more time figuring out how to lead his caucus than weighing in on the administration that’s leading our country out of the mess that Joe Biden and Democrats got us in,” Desai added.

In an interview Tuesday night on Fox News, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz took responsibility for the incident, saying, “I take full responsibility. I built the [Signal] group, my job is to make sure everything is coordinated.” He acknowledged a mistake had been made but said they were “moving forward.”

Waltz also criticized Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, who had inadvertently been added to the group chat.

“I’m not a conspiracy theorist,” Waltz said during the interview, “but somehow… this guy who has lied about the President… is the one that, somehow, hits on somebody’s contact and then gets sucked into this group.”

He added that he initially did not recognize Goldberg’s name in the group and that “whether he did it deliberately, or it happened in some other technical mean is something we are trying to figure out.”

The Atlantic had issued a statement earlier on Tuesday defending its editor-in-chief and its reporting: “Attempts to disparage and discredit The Atlantic, our editor, and our reporting follow an obvious playbook by elected officials and others in power who are hostile to journalists and the First Amendment rights of all Americans.”

The controversy began when Goldberg exposed he had been mistakenly included in a private Signal group chat involving top U.S. national security officials, including Hegseth, Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Vice President JD Vance.

According to Goldberg’s article in The Atlantic, the group exchanged information about an upcoming U.S. military operation against the Houthis in Yemen, including details of strike targets and weapons platforms.

White House officials, including President Trump, have downplayed the breach, insisting that no classified information was shared. However, the scandal—now referred to as “Signal Gate”—has drawn criticism over the administration’s handling of sensitive material.

During a Senate hearing on global threats Tuesday, Democratic senators pressed officials, including Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, about the incident.