House Democrat: Hegseth shared classified info to make up for ‘personal inadequacies'
Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) suggested Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared top secret information in a Signal group chat with national security officials to alleviate 'personal inadequacies.'
'What in the hell are you guys doing? And why are you doing that on a commercial chat platform? Makes absolutely no sense. And it's, in fact, extraordinarily dangerous,' Garamendi said during a Tuesday appearance on NewsNation.
'And then you bring in the Secretary of Defense and perhaps for his own personal inadequacies for the job, he decides that he's got to show that he's got the really big, important stuff that he can then share with the other teenagers that are chatting about this,' the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee's subpanel on military readiness added.
The California lawmaker's comments referred to reports from The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who said he was mistakenly added to a chat with President Trump's Cabinet members where war plans regarding strikes on the Houthis in Yemen were revealed.
Multiple Democrats have urged both Hegseth and national security adviser Mike Waltz to resign over the discrepancy. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) sent a Tuesday letter to the White House encouraging President Trump to fire the Secretary of Defense.
'It's like the top national security secretaries and others that are at the top of the national security program kind of got together like a bunch of teenagers talking things over about the school dance and the football game,' Garamendi told Laura Ingle during the NewsNation interview.
However, Hegseth denies claims that war plans were inadvertently shared.
'Nobody was texting war plans, and that's all I have to say about that,' Hegseth told reporters on Monday.
Garamendi has long questioned Hegseth's ability to lead the Department of Defense and initiated a probe into the leader's decision to deploy medical units at Guantanamo Bay where the Trump administration has tried to hold illegal immigrants.
'Unfortunately, it is clear that this administration cares more about imposing their radical political agenda and lining the pockets of their billionaire buddies, than it does about protecting the American taxpayer and our national security,' the lawmaker told The Hill in February.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Dozens of anti-ICE protesters busted at Trump Tower after lobby takeover: ‘Bring them home!'
About two dozen anti-ICE protesters swarmed the lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan Monday, and were busted after refusing to leave. The mostly grey-haired crowd sat together on the ground, chanting, 'Bring them back! Bring them home!' as NYPD cops descended on the Fifth Avenue skyscraper around 1 p.m. The group called for the release of inmates from the notorious hellhole prison CECOT in El Salvador – where migrants deported from the US, and even 'dangerous' American citizens convicted of heinous crimes are held in overcrowded cells. 'We are demanding that the administration bring back everyone from CECOT to the United States, release them ICE custody, return them to their homes and families and allow them their day in court,' demanded a woman leading the protest. The NYPD confirmed that the protesters were given multiple orders to disperse from the lobby, but refused to comply. An audio recording with the message, 'This is the New York City Police Department. You are occupying these premises unlawfully and without permission. I am ordering you to leave these premises now. If you refuse to leave, you may be subject to arrest,' played before police began placing the crew in zip-tie handcuffs. Sources say 24 demonstrators were rounded up by the NYPD. Charges were not immediately filed.
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Israeli navy attacks rebel-held Yemeni port city of Hodeida
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The Israeli navy attacked docks in Yemen's rebel-held port city of Hodeida on Tuesday, likely damaging facilities that are key to aid shipments to the hungry, war-wracked nation. The Israeli military said navy missile ships conducted the strikes, the first time its forces have been involved in attacks against the Houthi rebels. Tuesday's attack comes as the Houthis have repeatedly launched missiles and drones targeting Israel during its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis announced the attack via their al-Masirah satellite news channel. They said the attack targeted docks there, without elaborating. Late Monday, Israel issued online warnings to Yemenis to evacuate from Ras Isa, Hodeida and al-Salif ports over the Houthis' alleged use of seaports for attacks. 'The port is used to transfer weapons and is a further example of the Houthi terrorist regime's cynical exploitation of civilian infrastructure in order to advance terrorist activities,' the Israeli military said in a statement Tuesday. Hodeida also is the main entry point for food and other humanitarian aid for millions of Yemenis since the war began when the Houthis seized Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in 2014. The Houthis have been launching persistent missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group's leadership has described as an effort to end Israel's offensive in Gaza. From November 2023 until January 2025, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. That has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually. The Houthis paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the U.S. launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March. President Donald Trump paused those attacks just before his trip to the Mideast, saying the rebels had 'capitulated' to American demands. Early Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on the social platform X that U.S. Navy ships had traveled through the Red Sea and its Bab el-Mandeb Strait 'multiple times in recent days' without facing Houthi attacks. 'These transits occurred without challenge and demonstrate the success of both Operation ROUGH RIDER and the President's Peace Through Strength agenda,' Hegseth wrote ahead of facing Congress for the first time since sharing sensitive military details of America's military campaign against the Houthis in a Signal chat. It's unclear how the Houthis will respond now that an attack has come from the sea, rather than the air, from the Israelis. Meanwhile, a wider, decadelong war in Yemen between the Houthis and the country's exiled government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, remains in a stalemate.
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
State lawmaker's 'My family broke the law to come here' comment causes social media stir
The Brief Minnesota lawmaker Kaohly Vang Her, a St. Paul Democrat, caused a social media stir Monday after saying, "My family broke the law to come here." FOX 9 has confirmed Her is a documented immigrant in Minnesota legally. It would be illegal for an undocumented citizen to serve the Minnesota Legislature. ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - A social media firestorm broke out Monday when some people missed the context of a Minnesota DFL Representative's comments on the MinnesotaCare cuts for undocumented adults. What they're saying Rep. Kaohly Vang Her, a Democrat from St. Paul, said, "My family broke the law to come here. I never knew that. I just learned that now. So when you're thinking about voting 'no' on this bill, you're voting 'no' against someone like me." Representative Her's comments led to some widely-shared misinformation with people claiming she's undocumented, and serving the Minnesota Legislature. Why you should care That's not legal, and FOX 9 confirmed Monday she's not undocumented. Her is a citizen who was a Hmong refugee with her family in the 1970s, and whose father found a way to skip a step and get them to the United States faster. Rep. Her had legal documentation, and she was naturalized in junior high school.
