In response to new reporting on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth exposing critical military plans with family members on an insecure device in violation of protocol, DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement:

“Pete Hegseth is a disgrace and completely unfit to lead the Department of Defense. In just a few months on the job, Hegseth has repeatedly put our national security at risk, jeopardized the safety of our men and women in uniform, and demonstrated staggering levels of incompetence. It’s well past time for Hegseth to resign — or for Donald Trump to fire him.”

NEW: Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared critical military operational details AGAIN, putting active duty service members’ lives at risk, threatening America’s national security, and again raising questions about his fitness to lead from those closest to him. 

New York Times: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed information about forthcoming strikes in Yemen on March 15 in a private Signal group chat that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer, according to four people with knowledge of the chat.

“Some of those people said that the information Mr. Hegseth shared on the Signal chat included the flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets targeting the Houthis in Yemen …

“One person familiar with the chat said Mr. Hegseth’s aides had warned him a day or two before the Yemen strikes not to discuss such sensitive operational details in his Signal group chat, which, while encrypted, is not considered as secure as government channels typically used for discussing highly sensitive war planning and combat operations.”

CNN: “Hegseth shared detailed military plans in second Signal chat that included his wife and brother”

“[T]he chat … had more than a dozen people in it …

“The revelation comes as some of Hegseth’s closest advisers have begun sounding the alarm about the secretary’s judgment, including his former press secretary, John Ullyot, and three former senior officials Hegseth fired last week — his top adviser Dan Caldwell, deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick, and Colin Carroll, who served as chief of staff to the deputy secretary of defense. 

“‘It’s been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon. From leaks of sensitive operational plans to mass firings, the dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership,’ Ullyot said in a statement obtained by CNN. …

“The turmoil has raised more concerns about Hegseth’s judgment and priorities among current and former officials, and comes as the Pentagon is executing a major military operation in the Middle East against the Houthis, moving assets to the region in the event of a wider war between Israel and Iran, and surging troops and equipment to the southern border.”  

This is the second time Hegseth has exposed critical military operational details and risked active duty service members’ lives. 

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

“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.” 

REMINDER: Hegseth is the “least experienced defense secretary” in U.S. history and already faced major concerns about his fitness to lead before his confirmation. 

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 also has a history of inappropriate and abusive behavior — including reports of sexual assault and domestic violence — raising 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.’”