Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth appeared on Fox News Tuesday morning as he remains embroiled in a fresh controversy for sharing sensitive information in a group chat as well as his management of the Pentagon.
It was reported late Sunday that Hegseth shared classified information about strikes in Yemen in a private chat on the Signal app that included his wife, his brother and his personal lawyer. This new controversy is different from Hegseth’s earlier Signal chat debacle that mistakenly included a journalist.
In his Fox News interview Tuesday, Hegseth said the administration takes "leakers very seriously," adding that those who are leaking information are doing so to sabotage President Donald Trump's agenda.
"Once a leaker, always a leaker, often a leaker. We look for leakers because we take it very seriously. And we will do the investigation," Hegseth said.
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"And if those people are exonerated, fantastic. We don't think based on what we understand that it's going to be a good day for a number of those individuals because of what was found in the investigation," he added.
But the secretary did not directly address the latest reports about sensitive information being shared in a Signal chat that included his wife and personal lawyer. There have been calls for Hegseth's resignation following the controversy, and Tuesday's interview did not seem to clear the air.
Many commentators and journalists took to the social platform X to react to the interview.
Analyst Mike Nelson wrote, "Hegseth's appearance on Fox offered nonsensical (Caldwell is 'deep state') or obfuscating (once a leaker, always a leaker) answers. But let's face it, the purpose of the interview was not to provide information to the American people; it was an appeal to 1 person to keep his job."
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Lis Power, director of media intelligence at Media Matter for America, noted that prior to interviewing Pete Hegseth, Fox host Brian Kilmeade downplayed Hegseth's act of sending friends and family attack plan details as just "part of a learning curve."
Commenting on Hegseth's claim that "his disgruntled former employees" are peddling things to try to save themselves, CNN correspondent Natasha Bertrand highlighted that one of the fired officials, Dan Caldwell, told Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Monday night "that none of them were given polygraphs or had their access to classified information curtailed at all before being marched out last week."
White House editor for Bloomberg News Jordan Fabian noted that Hegseth said it would be "a good day" for some of the fired officials even before the investigation has not ended.
"Even as he said that the leak investigations have not yet concluded ;We will do the investigation. And if those people are exonerated, fantastic. We don't think, based on what we understand, that it's going to be a good day for a number of those individuals," Fabian wrote on X.
Some also questioned that there were no tough questions in the interview.
Rob Tornoe, a writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, wrote, "One notable thing about Hegseth's Fox News hit: Steve Doocy, the one Fox & Friends host willing to ask tough questions and press Trump officials, wasn't included in the interview. Brian Kilmeade asked all the questions."
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