President Trump insisted Monday that he still has faith in his defense secretary following reports of additional exchanges on an encrypted messenger app about operational plans in Yemen. 

“He’s doing a great job. It’s just fake news. They just bring up stories. I guess it sounds like disgruntled employees. He was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people and that’s what he’s doing so you don’t always have friends when you do that,” the president told reporters.

Mr. Hegseth came under fire on Monday for reportedly sharing details of a March 15th planned military strike in Yemen with additional Signal messenger groups, including one containing friends and family. The New York Times on Sunday said Mr. Hegseth shared operational details, including aircraft launch schedules, via a Signal group titled “Defense Team Huddle.” The group reportedly included his wife Jennifer, brother Phil Hegseth, and his personal attorney, Tim Parlatore, among others.

According to the Times, the sharing has sparked an internal investigation and renewed calls by Democrats for Mr. Hegseth’s removal.

Mr. Hegseth was taken to task last month for disseminating details about the strike against Iran-backed Houthi militants through two Signal chat groups. One group, involving senior administration officials, mistakenly included The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg. 

On Monday, the White House trotted out several top officials to defend the defense secretary. 

“The president stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth, who is doing a phenomenal job leading the Pentagon,” the president’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said on Fox News. “This is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and against the monumental change that you are trying to implement.”

The Pentagon’s spokesman, Sean Parnell, also dismissed claims of classified information sharing. 

“There was no classified information in any Signal chat, no matter how many ways they try to write the story,” Mr. Parnell said in a statement posted on X. Mr. Parnell has previously noted that the defense secretary’s brother is a senior advisor to President Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, and liaises with the Defense Department.

Speaking from the same hymnal as the president on Monday, Mr. Hegseth blamed the stories on disgruntled ex-employees. “What a big surprise that a few leakers get fired and suddenly a bunch of hit pieces come out from the same media that peddled the Russia hoax,” Mr. Hegseth said at the White House Easter Roll on Monday. 

“No one ever calls them on it. This is what the media does. They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations,” he said.

The sharing of information has prompted increased scrutiny and formal calls for accountability, including by the Senate Democratic Leader, Chuck Schumer, who sharply criticized Mr. Hegseth on social media, declaring, “Pete Hegseth must be fired.”  

“Hegseth must immediately explain why he reportedly texted classified information that could endanger American servicemembers’ lives,” said the Senate Armed Services Committee’s ranking Democrat, Jack Reed.

Mr. Reed was joined by the committee’s Republican chairman, Roger Wicker, in requesting the Pentagon’s acting inspector general to expand the ongoing investigation into Mr. Hegseth’s Signal communications. 

The call for deeper investigation follows the dismissal of three senior Pentagon officials by Mr. Hegseth last week for allegedly leaking information. Among those fired were Mr. Hegseth’s senior advisor, Dan Caldwell; his deputy chief of staff, Darin Selnick; and the chief of staff to the deputy secretary of defense, Colin Carroll.  

Former Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot added to the criticism of the defense secretary publishing an op-ed in Politico claiming that Mr. Hegseth’s leadership has left the department in “total chaos.”

“The president deserves better than the current mishegoss at the Pentagon. Given his record of holding prior Cabinet leaders accountable, many in the secretary’s own inner circle will applaud quietly if Trump chooses to do the same in short order at the top of the Defense Department,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, NPR, citing “a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly,” reported that the White House has already begun the process of finding a new secretary of defense. Ms. Leavitt adamantly denied the claim.