(NewsNation) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who previously came under fire for a Signal group chat that divulged details of an imminent U.S. attack on Yemen, shared similar information in a second chat on the messaging app with his wife, brother and personal lawyer on the same day, according to a report published Sunday.
The New York Times’ report — citing four people with knowledge of the exchange — comes after Hegseth and other members of President Donald Trump’s inner circle faced criticism and calls to resign after a journalist was mistakenly invited into a Signal group chat on March 15 as the U.S. readied strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Pete Hegseth’s wife, brother included in Signal chats: Reports
The newly disclosed Hegseth group chat allegedly included his spouse, a former Fox News producer who is not a Defense Department employee. The messages allegedly contained information on the flight schedules of jet fighters, the New York Times reported.
Other individuals in the exchange reportedly included Hegseth’s brother Phil and Hegseth’s attorney Tim Parlatore. Although both have positions in the Pentagon, it’s not clear why they were looped in on the U.S. strike on Houthi targets.
The Associated Press later confirmed the second Signal chat on the Houthi strikes, citing a source familiar with the contents.
While Hegseth did not create the group chat that mistakenly included an editor from the Atlantic, he reportedly initiated the newly disclosed chat on his personal phone, according to the New York Times and its sources.
Signal group chats not considered secure
Signal group chats, though encrypted, are not considered secure for classified government information. The Trump administration has stuck by Hegseth and Waltz, questioning whether the information in the previously disclosed Signal chat was significant enough to constitute a security breach.
The White House pushed back Sunday, blaming recently fired “leakers” for trying to “undermine the president’s agenda.”
“No matter how many times the legacy media tries to resurrect the same nonstory, they can’t change the fact that no classified information was shared,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said.
News about the second incident drew condemnations in Washington, however, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrats calling for Trump to get rid of Hegseth.
“The details keep coming out. We keep learning how Pete Hegseth put lives at risk. But Trump is still too weak to fire him. Pete Hegseth must be fired,” Schumer said on social media.
Atlantic journalist added to Signal chat
In March, the Trump administration faced controversy after it was revealed that a journalist from the Atlantic was added to a different Signal chat with government officials. Chat participants spoke about the Yemen strike before and as it was happening.
National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard acknowledged that journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was added to the chat by mistake at a House committee hearing.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the contents of the Signal chat were “not intended to be divulged.”
“Obviously, that was a mistake, and that shouldn’t have happened,” he said.
A poll by YouGov showed a large majority of Americans — 74% — thought the administration’s group chat on Signal is a “very serious” (53% of respondents) or “somewhat serious” (21% of respondents) problem.
The poll also showed 60% of Republicans who responded defined the chat as at least somewhat serious. The survey, taken on March 25, had nearly 6,000 respondents, all of whom were U.S. adults. Respondents’ opinions were shared before the Atlantic released screenshots from the Signal chat.
White House officials claimed classified information was not included in the message thread, though some national security experts were not convinced.