Pete Hegseth gives astonishing response to leaked war messages scandal amid soaring pressure to resign

Donald Trump‘s embattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired back at Democrats who are demanding he resign over revelations he shared precise details of a military strike on an unsecured group messaging app.

The resignation calls came after Hegseth shared details of a planned military strike against Houthi terrorists in Yemen in a group chat that included a journalist from The Atlantic magazine.

In a blistering response Hegseth wrote on social media: ‘So, let’s me get this straight. The Atlantic released the so-called ‘war plans’ and those ‘plans’ include: No names. No targets. No locations. No units. No routes. No sources. No methods. And no classified information. Those are some really sh***y war plans.’

The Atlantic published the texts after White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz mistakenly added the magazine’s editor Jeffrey Goldberg to a discussion about a military strike in Yemen.

But Hegseth mocked Goldberg’s characterization of the information in the texts as a ‘war plan.’

‘This only proves one thing: Jeff Goldberg has never seen a war plan or an ‘attack plan’ (as he now calls it). Not even close,’ Hegseth wrote on X.

Hegseth said he and his team were currently visiting commanders in the United States Indo-Pacific Command and talking to members of the armed forces.

‘We will continue to do our job, while the media does what it does best: peddle hoaxes,’ he wrote.

A chorus of Democratic senators on Wednesday called on Hegseth to resign immediately after details of the chats emerged.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth visits Kane’ohe Bay, Hawaii as Signal scandal escalates

Arizona Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego claimed he had been careless by sharing sensitive information on Signal, an unsecured messaging platform.

‘The Signal incident is what happens when you have the most unqualified Secretary of Defense we’ve ever seen,’ wrote Kelly on X.

‘We’re lucky it didn’t cost any servicemembers their lives, but for the safety of our military and our country, Secretary Hegseth needs to resign,’ he added.

‘This could have gotten our men and women killed!’ Gallego wrote on social media.

He added. ‘The Secretary of Defense needs to resign. The incompetence and cover up is embarrassing.’

On March 15 Hegseth texted a ‘Team Update’ to the Signal group of senior Trump administration officials revealing in advance the times and weapons systems of the planned military strikes.

Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) calls for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to resign

U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) listens as U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) teamed up to demand Hegseth resign

Hegseth addresses reports of sharing classified war plans on Signal

‘This is when the first bombs will definitely drop,’ Hegseth texted, revealing the timing of the operations that included F-18s and sea-based Tomahawk missiles.

Hegseth has repeatedly claimed that he did not share ‘war plans’ in the chat, an assertion that the White House again pressed on Wednesday after the texts were published.

‘No locations. No sources & methods. NO WAR PLANS,’ Waltz wrote on X, adding that, ‘foreign partners had already been notified that strikes were imminent.’

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt attacked The Atlantic for suggesting that Hegseth had shared ‘war plans’ in the Signal thread.

‘The Atlantic has conceded: these were NOT ‘war plans,’ she wrote. ‘This entire story was another hoax written by a Trump-hater who is well-known for his sensationalist spin.’

President Trump addressed the issue in a radio interview with host Vince Coglianese on Wednesday morning, describing Goldberg as a ‘sleaze bag at the highest level.’

‘Somebody in my group, he just screwed up or it’s just a bad signal,’ Trump said and added, ‘There weren’t details and there was nothing in there that compromised.