After Signal chat scandal, Hegseth faces backlash for bringing wife to high-level Pentagon meets: Report

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth brought his wife to two meetings with foreign military officials where sensitive information was discussed, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing multiple sources.

Hegseth is under scrutiny for sharing details of military strike on Yemen’s Houthi rebels in an encrypted group on Signal app. In the same group, Editor-in-chief of The Atlantic was also added by mistakenly, raising concerns.

His wife, Jennifer Rauchet Hegseth, is a former Fox News producer. Pete married Jennifer in 2019 at the Trump National Golf Club in Colts Neck, New Jersey.

According to reports, she attended a high-level meeting at the Pentagon on 6 March with the UK Secretary of Defence, John Healey.

This meeting took place just one day after the US announced it had stopped sharing military intelligence with Ukraine. The meeting, which included Admiral Tony Radakin, head of the UK’s armed forces, focused on the US decision and its future implications.

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She also lacked a security clearance before attending the meeting.

Her presence at these meetings has raised concerns about the handling of sensitive information within the administration.

Hegseth under fire for signal chat leak

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is under fire for sharing sensitive details about a planned US military strike on Houthi militants in Yemen in an unclassified group chat on the Signal messaging app.

By mistake, Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was added to the chat, exposing the discussions to the public.

The group chat included top officials like Vice President JD Vance and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz. Reports say the messages discussed the timing and weapon systems for the strike. Hegseth, however, denied sharing “war plans,” stating, “Nobody was texting war plans.”

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Calls for resignation

Republicans as well as some Democrats are demanding his resignation, accusing him of mishandling sensitive information. The Pentagon’s inspector general has launched an investigation at the request of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Justice Department have declined a formal investigation. The department has argued that the information was not classified and that the mission was successful. This decision has sparked criticism and calls for a deeper counterintelligence review.