Vance Has ‘100 Percent Confidence’ in Hegseth Amid Signal Scrutiny

The White House behind the White House Secretary of Defense is “standing strong,” said White House spokesman Karoline Leavitt.

Vice President JD Vance said on April 23 that he is totally confident in Pete Hegses despite a new monitoring of the Secretary of Defense’s use of the signal messaging app.

“I have 100% confidence in my secretary. I know the president is doing that. In fact, the whole team is doing that,” Vance told reporters in Agra, India after visiting the Taj Mahal.

The vice president accused the media of trying to “tank” Hegses’ nominations from the start. He suggested that the recent debate over the Secretary of Defense has only become an extension of those efforts.

“I think he’s doing a great job,” Vance said. He pointed to an increase in military recruitment as the “great will” of Hegses’ leadership.

“Frankly, I hope the press has spoken more about it, but not about anonymous procurement from random staff.”

Vance’s comments followed the White House’s denial of reports that the administration was looking for an alternative to Hegseth.

His tenure as Secretary of Defense, a former Fox News host, has come to a turbulent start. In March, a leaked signal group chat between him and several other Trump administration officials regarding US airstrikes in Yemen led to media fires and investigations by representative Pentagon inspectors.

The latest controversy follows reports that Hegseth allegedly shared an Airstrike schedule in a second signal chat that includes his wife, brother and personal attorney.

Earlier this week at the White House, Heggs dispelled new claims as “smears” of a recently fired former employee.

“What a huge surprise to see some leaks fired and so many hits coming out of the same media that suddenly pitched Russian hoax,” said Hegses, who is taking part in the annual Easter Egg Roll with his kids.

“This is what the media does. They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees. They try to cut people, burn them, ruin their reputation. They are not going to work with me. We will change the Department of Defense, go back to the hands of fighters and bring anonymous smears from disgruntled former employees back to the old news.”

Three Top Pentagon officials were on leave last week as the Department of Defense investigated the leak. Employees in question included Hegses’ deputy chief of staff Darling Selnick and advisor Dan Caldwell, and Colin Carroll, chief of staff to Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a press conference on April 22 that the former employee “lifted to the press in this room to his boss.”

Leavitt said the administration would not tolerate “individuals leaking to mainstream media, especially when it comes to confidential information.”

She also reflected Hegustes’ view that he was being targeted in a “smear campaign” to prevent him from enacting “moral change” at the Pentagon.

“I repeat, the president is firmly facing the changes he is bringing to the Pentagon and the results he has achieved so far speaks of itself,” Leavitt said.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.