Rep. Jonathan Jackson asks Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to step down after group chat incident
U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Illinois) is calling for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to resign, after war plans were accidentally texted to a journalist.
It was revealed Monday that Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, and several other top Trump administration figures discussed military strikes in Yemen on the encrypted messaging app Signal.
The group chat inadvertently included Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, Goldberg wrote on Monday.
As a Cabinet meeting unfolded at the White House on Monday afternoon, Goldberg published a piece detailing how he was added to the 18-person chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal earlier this month by an account sharing the name of White House national security adviser Mike Waltz.
Later, Goldberg said an account named "Pete Hegseth" laid out a plan for strikes in Yemen that included precise information about "weapons packages, targets, and timing" of the attack shortly before it took place.
Rep. Jackson said all this cast doubts about how Hegseth is handling highly classified information.
Jackson wrote in part:
"I am calling for the immediate resignation of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and other top cabinet officials in the wake of the shocking and dangerous leak of classified U.S. war plans detailing potential strikes against Yemen. The careless mishandling of sensitive information has not only compromised national security but also put the lives of U.S. service members and our allies at tremendous risk."
He called the actions of Hegseth and others involved in the messaging incident a "gross dereliction of duty," and called on Congress to "act swiftly to hold them accountable" if they do not step down.
When asked about the Goldberg story at the White House on Monday afternoon, President Trump told reporters he had not heard about it.
Secretary Hegseth on Monday night called Goldberg "deceitful and discredited." But a spokesperson for the National Security Council said the text chain appears to be authentic.
