In response to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth exposing critical military plans and risking America’s national security, DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement:

“Pete Hegseth was unfit to lead the Defense Department even before he risked our national security through his own sloppy handling of sensitive military information. Just like his boss Donald Trump, Hegseth – and everyone else involved – put on a stunning display of recklessness and disregard for our national security. Hegseth should resign, and if he doesn’t resign, he should be fired. It’s crystal clear that our men and women in uniform deserve better – and that our national security cannot be left in Hegseth’s incompetent and unqualified hands.” 

NEW: Trump’s Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth exposed critical military operation details, risking active-duty service members’ safety. 

The Atlantic: “The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans” 

“Two days later—Thursday—at 4:28 p.m., I received a notice that I was to be included in a Signal chat group. It was called the ‘Houthi PC small group.’ …

“At 11:44 a.m., the account labeled ‘Pete Hegseth’ posted in Signal a ‘TEAM UPDATE.’ I will not quote from this update, or from certain other subsequent texts. The information contained in them, if they had been read by an adversary of the United States, could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East, Central Command’s area of responsibility. What I will say, in order to illustrate the shocking recklessness of this Signal conversation, is that the Hegseth post contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing. …

“Brian Hughes, the spokesman for the National Security Council, responded two hours later, confirming the veracity of the Signal group. …

“[B]y coordinating a national-security-related action over Signal, [they] may have violated several provisions of the Espionage Act, which governs the handling of ‘national defense’ information, according to several national-security lawyers interviewed by my colleague Shane Harris for this story.” 

Prior to his confirmation, Republicans and military leaders raised concerns about Hegseth being the “least experienced defense secretary” in U.S. history. 

NPR: “If confirmed, he would be the least experienced defense secretary in the history of the republic, going back to Henry Knox, the first secretary of war who was a key officer in Washington’s army. Those who rise to that post often come from Capitol Hill, industry or the highest ranks of the officer corps.”

Politico: “Hegseth, if confirmed by the Senate, would lead 1.3 million active-duty troops in uniform and more than 750,000 civilians, hold contentious meetings with U.S. allies and develop strike options against the Islamic State and Iranian proxies. And while Hegseth has military experience, he has never run an organization larger than a small nonprofit. …

“‘Folks are shocked,’ said a current DOD official. ‘He’s just a Fox News personality that’s never worked in the government.’ …

“‘It is a massive bureaucracy, you have to understand how that works to support national security around the globe,’ [another] official added. ‘It is tedious and challenging and it is not at all related to getting on Fox News and pontificating.’”

Wall Street Journal: “Republican senators said that they want closer scrutiny of President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary. … The former Fox News host was an unconventional choice for the top Pentagon job, as he has never led a large government agency, but the debate about his qualifications has been overshadowed by allegations related to his personal life.”

Hegseth’s unfitness to lead extends beyond just inexperience: His reported inappropriate and abusive behavior — including sexual assault and domestic violence allegations — raised serious questions about his fitness to manage the Department of Defense.

Pete Hegseth: “I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles.”

CNN: “A California woman told police that Trump Cabinet pick Pete Hegseth physically blocked her from leaving a hotel room, took her phone, and then sexually assaulted her even though she ‘remembered saying “no” a lot,’ a police report obtained by CNN shows.”

The New Yorker: “A trail of documents, corroborated by the accounts of former colleagues, indicates that Hegseth was forced to step down by both of the two nonprofit advocacy groups that he ran—Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America—in the face of serious allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety, and personal misconduct.”

Penelope Hegseth: “You are an abuser of women — that is the ugly truth and I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.”

New York Times: “An ex-sister-in-law of Pete Hegseth’s submitted a sworn statement to senators on Tuesday that accused Mr. Hegseth, President Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, of being so ‘abusive’ toward his second wife that she once hid in a closet from him and had a safe word to call for help if she needed to get away from him. …

“In the affidavit, which was sent on Tuesday to the Armed Services panel, Danielle Hegseth wrote that Mr. Hegseth’s second wife, Samantha Hegseth, ‘once hid in her closet from Hegseth because she feared for her personal safety.’”

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