Hegseth says ex-advisers who leak to media could be prosecuted amid scrutiny of his own intel-sharing – live
Pete Hegseth says leak probe may lead to US prosecutions
Reuters is reporting that Pete Hegseth has warned of possible prosecutions of former senior advisors who were fired during a probe into leaks of Pentagon information to the media, saying evidence would be handed over to the Department of Justice once the investigation is completed.
Dan Caldwell, who was one of Hegseth’s top advisors, and two other senior officials were fired on Friday after being escorted out of the Pentagon. They have denied any wrongdoing and said they have been told nothing about any alleged crimes.
Hegseth, who is facing growing calls to resign after coming under fire for using messaging system Signal to discuss plans to attack Yemen’s Houthi group, left open the possibility that individuals could be exonerated during the investigation but played down those chances. He told Fox News:
If those people are exonerated, fantastic. We don’t think – based on what we understand – that it’s going to be a good day for a number of those individuals because of what was found in the investigation.
Hegseth said there had been a number of leaks that triggered the investigation, including about military options to ensure US access to the Panama Canal and Elon Musk’s visit to the Pentagon.
We said enough is enough. We’re going to launch a leak investigation. We took it seriously. It led to some unfortunate places, people I have known for quite some time. But it’s not my job to protect them. It’s my job to protect national security.
He said evidence would eventually be handed over to the Department of Justice.
When that evidence is gathered sufficiently – and this has all happened very quickly – it will be handed over to the DOJ and those people will be prosecuted if necessary.
Caldwell had played a critical role as an adviser to Hegseth and his importance was underscored in a leaked text chain on Signal disclosed by The Atlantic last month. In it, Hegseth named Caldwell as the best staff point of contact for the National Security Council as it prepared for the launch of strikes in Yemen.
Key events
Asked if the FBI is going to be investigating the leaks that Hegseth earlier said could be prosecuted, Leavitt says you would have to ask the Department of Justice and says the leaks were “unacceptable behavior”.
Pete Hegseth ‘doing a tremendous job’, says White House, reaffirming Trump’s support for defense secretary
Leavitt doubles down that Pete Hegseth is “doing a tremendous job” and bringing “monumental change” to the Pentagon. “That’s why we’ve seen a smear campaign against the secretary of defense from the moment that President Trump announced his nomination,” she says.
Let me reiterate the president stands strongly behind secretary Hegseth and the change that he is bringing to the Pentagon and the results that he’s achieved thus far speak for themselves.
On Thursday this week, Trump will host the Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre at the White House to discuss “trade and regional security”.
Leavitt notes this will be the 13th state visit of Trump’s second term so far.
Trump will also travel to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE from 13-16 May.
Trump to attend funeral of Pope Francis
Trump will leave Friday morning for Rome and return on Saturday evening following the funeral of Pope Francis, Leavitt says.
The White House news briefing with press secretary Karoline Leavitt is due to start shortly. I’ll bring you all the key lines here.
Pete Hegseth says leak probe may lead to US prosecutions
Reuters is reporting that Pete Hegseth has warned of possible prosecutions of former senior advisors who were fired during a probe into leaks of Pentagon information to the media, saying evidence would be handed over to the Department of Justice once the investigation is completed.
Dan Caldwell, who was one of Hegseth’s top advisors, and two other senior officials were fired on Friday after being escorted out of the Pentagon. They have denied any wrongdoing and said they have been told nothing about any alleged crimes.
Hegseth, who is facing growing calls to resign after coming under fire for using messaging system Signal to discuss plans to attack Yemen’s Houthi group, left open the possibility that individuals could be exonerated during the investigation but played down those chances. He told Fox News:
If those people are exonerated, fantastic. We don’t think – based on what we understand – that it’s going to be a good day for a number of those individuals because of what was found in the investigation.
Hegseth said there had been a number of leaks that triggered the investigation, including about military options to ensure US access to the Panama Canal and Elon Musk’s visit to the Pentagon.
We said enough is enough. We’re going to launch a leak investigation. We took it seriously. It led to some unfortunate places, people I have known for quite some time. But it’s not my job to protect them. It’s my job to protect national security.
He said evidence would eventually be handed over to the Department of Justice.
When that evidence is gathered sufficiently – and this has all happened very quickly – it will be handed over to the DOJ and those people will be prosecuted if necessary.
Caldwell had played a critical role as an adviser to Hegseth and his importance was underscored in a leaked text chain on Signal disclosed by The Atlantic last month. In it, Hegseth named Caldwell as the best staff point of contact for the National Security Council as it prepared for the launch of strikes in Yemen.
Gloria Oladipo
Former vice-president Al Gore compared the Trump administration with Nazi Germany, in scathing comments made Monday about the president’s use of power during remarks about climate change.
During a speech at an event to mark the beginning of San Francisco’s Climate Week, Gore, an established climate advocate, said that the Trump administration was “trying to create their own preferred version of reality”, akin to the Nazi party during the 1930s in Germany, Politico reported.
Gore said during his speech at the city’s Exploratorium museum:
I understand very well why it is wrong to compare Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich to any other movement. It was uniquely evil, full stop. I get it. But there are important lessons from the history of that emergent evil.
Gore’s comments come as three former presidents have publicly condemned the Trump administration over the past two weeks.
Donald Trump said he spoke with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, about trade and Iran.
The call went “very well”, Trump said in a Truth Social post, adding that the pair are “on the same side of every issue”.
The Department of Homeland Security denied detained Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil permission to attend the birth of his first child, according to documents seen by multiple outlets.
Instead, Khalil experienced the birth via a telephone call from a Louisiana detention facility more than 1,000 miles away from the New York hospital where his son was delivered.
In a statement released on Monday evening, Khalil’s wife Noor Abdalla said:
I welcomed our son into the world earlier today without Mahmoud by my side. Despite our request for ICE to allow Mahmoud to attend the birth, they denied his temporary release to meet our son. This was a purposeful decision by ICE to make me, Mahmoud, and our son suffer.
According to emails reviewed by the New York Times, Khalil’s lawyers suggested several ways in which he could have attended the birth, including allowing him a two-week furlough while wearing an ankle monitor and requiring scheduled check-ins. The request was denied by the New Orleans field office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Pete Hegseth blames ousted officials for leaks in latest Signal chat scandal
Joseph Gedeon
Embattled US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has defended his most recent use of the encrypted messaging app Signal to discuss sensitive military operations, blaming fired Pentagon officials for orchestrating leaks against the Trump administration.
In an interview with former colleagues at Fox News on Tuesday morning, Hegseth suggested the problems stem from former officials, appointed by this administration, for leaking information to damage him and Donald Trump, adding that there was an internal investigation and that evidence would eventually be handed to the justice department. He asked:
When you dismiss people who you believe are leaking classified information… why would it surprise anybody if those very same people keep leaking to the very same reporters whatever information they think they can have to try to sabotage the agenda of the president or the secretary.
In a statement posted on X over the weekend, the three dismissed top officials – Dan Caldwell, Colin Carroll and Darin Selnick – wrote that they were “incredibly disappointed” by the way they were removed, adding that “unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door.”
Hegseth, in the interview, also confirmed the news that his chief of staff Joe Kasper will stay at the Pentagon, but it’s “going to be in a slightly different role”.
The controversy stems from recent reporting in the New York Times, after a second Signal chat was identified where he is again believed to have shared sensitive operational details about strikes against Houthis in Yemen – including launch times of fighter jets, bomb drop timings and missile launches – with a group of 13 people, including his wife, brother and personal lawyer, some of whom possessed no security clearance.
Hegseth dismissed those reports in the interview, characterizing criticism as politically motivated attacks. He told Fox and Friends:
No one’s texting war plans. What was shared over Signal then and now, however you characterize it, was informal, unclassified coordinations for media coordination among other things.
It has since emerged via NBC News that the sensitive information the defense secretary shared in that group chat came from a top general’s secure messages.
Here is Rubio’s full statement.
Today is the day. Under @POTUS’ leadership and at my direction, we are reversing decades of bloat and bureaucracy at the State Department.
These sweeping changes will empower our talented diplomats to put America and Americans first. pic.twitter.com/CGWz3JrYwu
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) April 22, 2025
Marco Rubio announces sweeping reorganisation of US state department
Andrew Roth
The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has announced a proposed reorganisation of the US state department as part of what he called an effort to reform it amid criticism from the Trump White House over the execution of US diplomacy.
The reorganisation will close a number of overseas missions, reduce staff and minimise offices dedicated to promoting liberal values in a stated goal to subsume them to regional bureaus.
Rubio said in a statement:
The sprawling bureaucracy created a system more beholden to radical political ideology than advancing America’s core national interests. That is why today I am announcing a comprehensive reorganization plan that will bring the Department in to the 21st Century.
This approach will empower the Department from the ground up, from the bureaus to the embassies. Region-specific functions will be consolidated to increase functionality, redundant offices will be removed, and non-statutory programs that are misaligned with America’s core national interests will cease to exist.
