Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley calls for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ‘to resign or be removed’ over Signalgate
An Oregon senator called for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s resignation or removal Thursday after a Pentagon report concluded Hegseth put U.S. troops at risk by sharing plans about an impending military strike via a messaging app on his personal phone.
“This report sends a really clear signal: Hegseth — who never should have been nominated — needs to resign or be removed,” Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., posted to X on Thursday afternoon.
A Pentagon inspector general’s report found that Hegseth had the authority to declassify the material he shared through the Signal app in March about plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen. But the report said the release still violated Pentagon rules about the handling of sensitive information.
“If this information had fallen into the hands of U.S. adversaries, Houthi forces might have been able to counter U.S. forces or reposition personnel and assets to avoid planned U.S. strikes,” the report said.
Hegseth refused to be interviewed as part of the investigation but said in a statement to the inspector general that there “was nothing classified in this text.”
“There were no locations or targets identified,” Hegseth wrote. “There were no details that would endanger our troops or the mission.”
Hegseth also posted on social media about the report.
“No classified information,” he wrote. “Total exoneration. Case closed. Houthis bombed into submission.”
Meanwhile, Hegseth is facing additional scrutiny this week over continued U.S. strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean.
The U.S. military carried out its 22nd such strike on Thursday, this time in the eastern Pacific. Four people were killed in that strike, bringing the total death toll to at least 87 since the strikes began in September.
Also Thursday, Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley appeared for a series of closed-door classified briefings at the U.S. Capitol as lawmakers began an investigation into the first boat strike, conducted on Sept. 2. The sessions came after a report that Bradley ordered a follow-up attack that killed two survivors to comply with Hegseth’s demands.
Bradley told lawmakers there was no “kill them all” order from Hegseth, but a stark video of the entire series of attacks left some lawmakers with serious questions.
Legal experts have said killing survivors of a strike at sea could be a violation of the laws of military warfare.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
