Hakeem Jeffries yesterday called on Dementia Don to immediately fire Whiskey Pete Hegseth for discussing sensitive details of a pending strike in Yemen in a high-level group Signal chat — that incidentally included a journalist. Via the New York Times:
“Pete Hegseth is the most unqualified secretary of defense in American history,” Mr. Jeffries wrote in a letter sent to Mr. Trump at the White House, which was obtained by The New York Times. “His continued presence in the top position of leadership at the Pentagon threatens the nation’s security and puts our brave men and women in uniform throughout the world in danger.”
Since the revelations on Monday, several Democrats have called for the resignations of Mr. Hegseth and the other senior national security officials involved in the leaked chat, but the letter made Mr. Jeffries the highest-ranking Democrat on Capitol Hill to call for the defense secretary to lose his job. Republicans have mostly rallied around the Trump administration, reacting to the episode with a collective shrug.
While Michael Waltz, the national security adviser, is reported to have added Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic to the group discussion, Mr. Hegseth is coming under increasing scrutiny for discussing highly sensitive military operations against Houthi rebels on the commercial messaging application.