Trump defence secretary Pete Hegseth breaks silence after Yemen war plans shared on group chat

Hegseth accuses journalist of 'peddling hoaxes' after Yemen war plans shared on group chat.Credit: Associated Press

Transcript

00:00Can you share how your information about war plans against the Houthis in Yemen was shared

00:06with a journalist in the Atlantic? And were those details classified?

00:12You're talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who's made

00:19a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again to include the, I don't know,

00:25the hoaxes of Russia, Russia, Russia, or the fine people on both sides hoax,

00:31or suckers and losers hoax. So this is the guy that peddles in garbage. This is what he does.

00:37I would love to comment on the Houthi campaign because of the skill and courage of our troops.

00:42I've monitored it very closely from the beginning. And you see, we've been managing four years of

00:48deferred maintenance under the Trump administration. Our troops, our sailors,

00:52were getting shot at as targets. Our ships couldn't sail through. And when they did shoot

00:57back, it was purely defensively or at shacks in Yemen. President Trump said, no more. We will

01:04reestablish deterrence. We will open freedom of navigation and we will ultimately decimate

01:11the Houthis, which is exactly what we're doing as we speak from the beginning overwhelmingly.

01:16Why were those details shared on Signal? And how did you learn that a journalist was privy to

01:21the targets, the types of weapons used? I've heard I've heard I was characterized.

01:27Nobody was texting war plans. And that's all I have to say about that. Thank you.