Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had the Signal app installed on an office computer because he couldn’t get cell phone service in the Pentagon, according to a report.
Hegseth directed the installation of the encrypted app on a desktop Pentagon computer as a “work-around that enabled him to use Signal in a classified space,” the Washington Post reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The embattled former Fox News host discussed with aides how the app could enable them to coordinate more quickly with White House officials because of the Pentagon’s lack of cell phone service, according to the Post.
It is the latest in the Signalgate saga involving Hegseth’s use of the app to discuss military plans, which he has repeatedly claimed were not classified.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell denied the Post’s reporting in a statement to The Independent.
“The Secretary of Defense’s use of communications systems and channels is classified,” Parnell said. “However, we can confirm that the Secretary has never used and does not currently use Signal on his government computer.”
Hegseth furiously hit back against revelations this week that he created a second Signal chat to discuss military plans in Yemen that included his own wife, brother and personal attorney.
He blamed fired staffers for the leaks about the second Signal chat group about strikes against the Houthis in March, as he accused them of trying to “sabotage” President Donald Trump’s agenda.
“Those folks who are leaking, who have been pushed out of the building, are now attempting to leak and sabotage the president’s agenda,” Hegseth said. “We’re for the war fighters. We’re for the president. And none of this is based in reality.”
It emerged last month that Hegseth texted sensitive war plans involving a wave of U.S. air strikes in Yemen in a Signal chat called “Houthi PC small group” that inadvertently included The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg. The chat was created by Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz.
After the second Signal group chat story broke, the mood in the West Wing has “grown dark,” according to The Atlantic. The president is standing by Hegseth but Trump and those closest to him are said to be “frustrated” about revisiting the saga that “they believe slowed their momentum last month,” according to the outlet.
“Here we go again. Just a waste of time. He is doing a great job,” Trump said at Monday’s White House Easter Egg Roll event when asked about the newest report about a Signal chat involving Hegseth.
