Donald Trump is “starting to cool” on Pete Hegseth after the defense secretary was hit by a spate of national security scandals, it is claimed.
After texting sensitive war plans involving a wave of U.S. air strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen to a Signal chat last month, The New York Times revealed last week that Hegseth allegedly shared details of military strikes in a second group on the messaging app, which included his wife, his attorney and his brother. Sources told the Associated Press last week that he did so on his personal computer via an insecure internet connection in his office.
The president insisted in a recent interview with The Atlantic that he thinks his embattled Pentagon chief is “going to get it together.”
But on Tuesday’s episode of Morning Joe, co-host Jonathan Lemire suggested Trump may be losing his enthusiasm for Hegseth behind closed doors.
“During the transition, there was a lot of frustration among Trump aides around Hegseth that he hadn't been forthcoming,” Lemire told fellow anchor Joe Scarborough. “Trump himself loved the guy. That’s what I was told repeatedly. ‘Hegseth's my guy,’ Trump said.”
“He loved him on Fox, he got to know him during the first term as... Hegseth championed some veterans’ causes,” he continued. “What we’re seeing now is that Trump himself is starting to cool on Hegseth, at least somewhat.”
The hosts concurred that Mike Waltz will likely continue to bear the brunt of the blame after Trump’s national security advisor mistakenly invited The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to the initial Signal group chat.
“But, Waltz, as a suggestion, is... probably also a short-timer on this administration,” Lemire continued. “Right now, the focus is on Hegseth and the chaos at the Pentagon, which goes beyond the Signalgate chats. We’ve some of his top aides go; his handpicked guys to be around him.”
According to The Atlantic, after the security blunders, the president told his staff: “Maybe don’t use Signal, OK?”
Hegseth, a former Fox News host and military veteran, was quick to blame fired staffers for the leaks about the second Signal chat group and accused them of trying to “sabotage” Trump’s agenda. Several former aides have spoken out, denying any wrongdoing.
“Those folks who are leaking, who have been pushed out of the building, are now attempting to leak and sabotage the president’s agenda,” Hegseth said last week. “We're for the war fighters. We're for the president. And none of this is based in reality.”
