Defense Minister Beit Higseth shared details about an imminent attack on the Houthis in Yemen in March in a second group chat using the messaging application signal that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer, sources familiar with the contents of chat in ABC News.
These joint details in the second chat included the f/A-18 Hornets flights participating in the attacker suspended on the Houthi sites, according to officials. The New York Times was the first to inform Higseth’s exchange of details in a second reference group.
According to details of the details of the details at the same time in mid -March, when the main members of the National Security Council of President Donald Trump participated, including Higseth, unintentionally details about the missile strike on March 15 in Yemen with the editor -in -chief of the Atlantic Ocean.
Defense Minister Beit Higseth speaks during a meeting with National Defense Minister Salvador René Mirino Mono in the Pentagon, on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, in Washington.
(AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
The officials of ABC News said to share a lot of the same content in the second encrypted chat with family members and others – a chat group created by Higseth on his personal phone during the confirmation process.
Higseth’s wife, Jennifer Higseth, does not work for the Ministry of Defense.
His brother, Phil Higseth, works as a senior consultant in the Ministry of Internal Security and is detailed to the Ministry of Defense. Tim Parteror, Higseth’s personal lawyer, works in the Pentagon as a naval reserve dedicated to the Hegseth Office.
ABC News contacted the Pentagon to comment, but she has not yet received a response.
The sources have been confirmed with ABC News that the second known chat was originally created to discuss scheduling and administrative information.
The Inspector General of Stephen Stevens said in a notification letter to Higsth: “The independent inspector in the Pentagon is evaluating the use of Higseth to implement the signal” to determine the extent to which the Minister of Defense and other employees of the Ministry of Defense of the Ministry of Defense’s policies and procedures “to conduct official work,”
The Trump administration has repeatedly refuted the idea that any classified information has been shared on the first well -known chat topic; However, many former US officials have claimed that sharing this information about non -approval channels could endanger forces abroad.
Its use to detect sensitive military operations may complicate the ongoing investigations in potential leaks that involve the first well -known group chat, which included senior assistants and other members of the Beit Higseth team – at least they have been launched since then with regard to the investigation.
These officials – Dan Caldwell, Coleen Carroll and Darin Celnik – have already spoke against what they say are baseless accusations by them.
“At this time, we were not informed exactly of exactly what was investigated, if there is still an active investigation, or if there is even a real investigation of” leaks “at the beginning,” they said in a joint statement on X on April 19.
On Sunday, John Ullewat, a Pentagon spokesman, published an opinion article in Politico, where he described a “month of overall chaos in the Pentagon”.
“From the leakage of sensitive operational plans for group shooting, the defect is now a great distraction for the president – who deserves better than his supreme leadership.”
“Higseth is now a strange and confidential cleansing that he left without his closest adviser over a decade – Caldwell and Celnik – without the chiefs of staff for him and his deputy,” he wrote.
He added, “Even the strong supporters in the secretary, like me, should admit: last month was a complete collapse in the Pentagon – and it became a real problem for the administration.”
“President Donald Trump has a strong record in the position of his senior officials at his expense,” Ullewat wrote. “Given this, it is difficult to see Defense Minister Beit Higseth in his role for a longer period.”
ULLYOT left the Pentagon late last week after it was marginalized after he defended controversially from removing Jackie Robinson information from DOD.
Earlier this week he said that he left the Pentagon on his own, while a senior defense official told ABC News that Ullyot was asked to resign.
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