Another top Democrat is trying to push the narrative that Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth could be on the way out despite repeated denials from President Donald Trump.
During an interview on MSNBC, Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet predicted Thursday that Hegseth would be the next cabinet member ousted by Trump.
Bennet said, “I think there’s more to it. I think it is an extraordinary moment that even Donald Trump is admitting that he can’t sustain national security advisers who had the wisdom of sharing Signal chain with Jeffrey Goldberg. I think it’s probably the case that what President Trump is maddest about is the fact that he shared it with the reporter from the Atlantic. The real problem is that Secretary Hegseth, the secretary of defense, Somebody who should never have been confirmed to begin with shared battle plans and classified information on that Signal chain.”
He added, “As a member of the Intelligence Committee I’ve rarely seen anything as classified as what Pete Hegseth put out in that Signal chain. And I believe these drum beats are going to grow and grow and grow. And, you know you’ve seen President Trump said, there’s no way Waltz’s ever going to be ejected by his administration and now, he has been. I think Pete Hegseth will not be far behind.”
WATCH:
President Donald Trump dismissed ABC News’ Terry Moran’s question about his confidence in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as “stupid.”
In a prime-time interview marking his 100th day in office on Tuesday, Trump was asked about his discussions with Hegseth, who has recently drawn attention for using the encrypted Signal app for official business and the ongoing shake-up at the Pentagon that resulted in the departure of his top aides.
“Did you take him to the woodshed?” Moran asked at one point.
“I had a talk with him, and whatever I said, I probably wouldn’t be inclined to tell you, but we had a good talk,” Trump responded.
“He’s a talented guy, he’s young, he’s smart, highly educated, and I think he’s gonna be a very good defense- hopefully a great defense secretary, but he’ll be a very good defense secretary,” Trump added.
“You have 100% confidence in Pete Hegseth,” said in a follow-up.
“We will,” Moran replied.
WATCH:
President Trump supports Hegseth, according to White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, following accusations that he communicated specifics of a March raid on Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis in a chat group with his wife, brother, and personal lawyer.
This is the second time recently that Trump has clarified that he’s standing by Hegseth, as some Democrats have called for him to resign because of a leaked Signal chat that contained information about a military strike in Yemen.
Last month, the president discussed the controversy following Hegseth’s accidental transmission of details about the strike to members of the administration in a Signal chat, which also included Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. Goldberg published the full messages.
After several Democrats in Congress called for Hegseth to step down because of the scandal, reporters asked Trump if he thought Hegseth might want to resign.
“Hegseth is doing a great job, he had nothing to do with this. Hegseth. How do you bring Hegseth into this?” Trump replied.
Trump again played down the controversy over whether or not Hegseth shared secret information that could have put the operation at risk by focusing on the mission’s success.
“There was no harm done because the attack was unbelievably successful that night,” Trump said.
“Look, it’s all a witch hunt … you wanna ask about whether or not Signal works, I don’t know if Signal works, I think that Signal could be defective to be honest with you,” Trump said.