April 22, 2025 – Donald Trump presidency information

Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth continued to double down on Tuesday that three senior Pentagon officers who had been fired final week had been leaking info to the press, and that he didn’t share any labeled info in a second Sign group chat reported over the weekend.

“After we had leaks, which now we have had right here, we did a critical leak investigation. And thru that leak investigation, sadly, we discovered some people that we imagine weren’t holding to the protocols that we maintain pricey right here on the Protection Division. By that investigation, they’ve been moved on, and that investigation continues,” Hegseth mentioned Tuesday morning in an interview on “Fox and Buddies.”

Hegseth additionally confirmed the existence of a second Sign group chat — members of which included his spouse, brother, and private lawyer — during which he shared delicate navy operation particulars. He mentioned Tuesday that “was shared over Sign, then and now, nonetheless you characterize it, was casual, unclassified coordinations for media coordinations and different issues.”

Extra context: Hegseth’s feedback come a day after one of many officers, Dan Caldwell, who has identified Hegseth for years and was serving as his senior adviser, advised Tucker Carlson in an interview on Monday that he didn’t leak or {photograph} labeled materials and has not been polygraphed. Caldwell additionally mentioned that as of Monday, neither he nor the opposite two officers – Hegseth’s former deputy chief of employees Darin Selnick, and Colin Carroll, chief of employees to the Deputy Protection Secretary — have been advised what they had been investigated for or if there may be nonetheless an energetic investigation. Caldwell, Selnick, and Carroll denied leaking info in a joint assertion on Saturday.

Hegseth mentioned the investigation, which is being led by the Workplace of Particular Investigations, or OSI, continues to be ongoing. Requested by Fox’s Brian Kilmeade on Tuesday why the officers weren’t polygraphed, Hegseth reiterated that the investigation has “led to some unlucky locations, folks I’ve identified for fairly a while.”

He added that believes the details about the second Sign chat got here from one of many fired people in an effort to “sabotage the agenda of president or the secretary.”