Amid demands for his resignation over the Signal conversation breach, Republican senators are supporting Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and told AWN Digital that demands for him to be sacked are “hot garbage.”
National security officials of the Trump administration are dealing with a flood of unfavorable media coverage this week following inclusion of Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg in a group discussion on Signal, an encrypted messaging software, regarding an attack against the Houthis in Yemen. On Wednesday, Goldberg published the texts.
Hegseth has insisted that no war plans or sensitive information were discussed during the Signal group discussion of Trump administration officials discussing prospective strikes on Houthi targets, which was unintentionally shared with a journalist.
With Goldberg’s release of the texts, Democrats have been demanding Hegseth and other officials to quit.
GOP senators, however, are supporting Hegseth.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said to AWN Digital, “Defense Secretary Hegseth helped spearhead the successful strikes we saw against the Houthis to protect shipping lanes and keep Americans safe.”
Hawley remarked, “That’s good policy and a victory for the Trump administration.” Trump is on a roll, so the Democrats are only attempting to divert the subject and smear Hegseth.
Senator Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., also supported Hegseth, saying AWN Digital that he is “a decorated war hero who understands the needs of the warfighter.”
In a few weeks, he has worked with President Trump to restore lethality, merit, and peace by strength in bold ways. Recruitment figures indicate this government is motivating young Americans to wear their country’s uniform, “Mullin stated. Under Pete’s direction, the Defense Department has been quite successful; anyone claiming differently is not paying attention.
Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah, called the demands for his resignation “amusing,” particularly in light of the successful strikes.
Lee told AWN Digital, “It’s funny to watch two political camps criticize the Secretary of Defense in the wake of successful strikes against Houthi terrorists: radical progressives angry that he is eliminating woke DEI ideology and concentrating on lethality, and armchair generals furious that he wants to keep America out of pointless foreign wars.”
Some senators criticized the media; Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, claimed the “woke media has shown their true colors this week.”
Tuberville said to AWN Digital, “For the past four years, we had a vegetable President who sat on his hands while the Houthis attacked the U.S. Navy more than 170 times while choking off a major trade route with devastating effects on our economy.” President Trump’s leadership, Secretary Hegseth’s guidance, and the whole national security team have helped us to safeguard our ships and be well on our approach to regaining complete freedom of passage.
Once more, Tuberville said that “the same left-wing media who mostly downplayed the botched Afghanistan withdrawal under Biden that cost 13 Americans their lives is working around the clock to try to get Secretary Hegseth pushed out” is working around the clock to try to get Secretary Hegseth pushed out instead of celebrating the success of this operation.
Over the last six months, I have come to know Secretary Hegseth well. He is a patriot who boldly served two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan; he is also doing an excellent job as Secretary of Defense. The Pentagon, under his direction, is once again concentrating on lethality rather than woke politics. Secretary Hegseth has my full backing; any claim he should be dismissed is steaming rubbish.
Senator Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, reiterated his belief that Hegseth has shown “he is precisely the right person to cut red tape at the Pentagon, end forever wars abroad and boost morale among our courageous warfighters.”
Moreno said AWN Digital he is “proud to stand with him in the face of abhorrent assaults from Democrats and their allies in the liberal media.”
R-Mo. Sen. Eric Schmitt also defended Hegseth, claiming he is “doing a great job, and is doing exactly what the American people elected President Trump to do: prioritize America’s core national interests in foreign policy decisions, strip woke programs and divisive DEI out of our military, and work to return our military’s focus to lethality and preparedness.”
Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., said to AWN Digital that the “historic spike in military recruitment is no accident.” The United States is more secure. Our enemies are less strong. Terrorists are gone. America is winning under Secretary Hegseth.
“I’m confident Secretary Hegseth will continue to put our warfighters in the best position and return the Pentagon’s focus to our force’s lethality, providing a credible deterrent against our adversaries,” Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., told AWN Digital. Advancing President Trump’s concept of peace through strength, which includes guaranteeing his national security team has the backing required to carry out the President’s program, I stay resolutely dedicated.
Hegseth has said this week in his defense, “No one is texting war plans.”
I saw this morning out came something that doesn’t seem like war plans. “In fact, they even changed the title to attack plans since they know it’s not war plans,” he said on Wednesday.
He said there was no critical information shared in the discussion, “No units, no locations, no routes, no flight paths, no sources, no methods, no classified information.”
Hegseth said he was informing President Donald Trump’s national security staff in real time.
As I stated, my work on top of it is known to everyone. The “team update” aims to give broad updates in real time. Keep everyone updated. That is what I did. That’s my work.
The aftermath follows Goldberg’s claim that on March 11 he got a request to join the group conversation on the encrypted messaging application Signal from what seemed National Security Advisor Michael Waltz. Goldberg published screenshots of many messaging exchanges he saw.
He said authorities had been talking about “war plans” but didn’t release any of the most sensitive material he found, including exact details on timing, targets, and weapons packages, because of possible national security and military operations risks.
Hegseth earlier on the day berated Goldberg in an X post, claiming he had never “seen a war plan.”
So, allow me to clarify. The Atlantic published the so-called “war plans,” which contain: No names. No goals. No sites. No devices. No paths. No references. No techniques. He said no secret data either. Those are some truly s—– military plans.
This only shows one thing: Jeff Goldberg has never seen a “attack plan” or a war plan (as he now refers to it). Not even near, he said.
