Fox’s Brian Kilmeade Says Pete Hegseth’s Second Signal Scandal May Be ‘Part of a Learning Curve’
By Tom Durante,
24 days ago
Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade suggested that a new Signalgate scandal plaguing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth may just be part of a “learning curve” on Tuesday.
Sitting on the curvy couch with Steve Doocy and Ainsley Earhardt , Kilmeade tried to defend his former Fox News colleague, arguing the public would have no idea information about military operations were shared if it weren’t for leakers within the Department of Defense, adding that it “could be part of a learning curve.”
An explosive New York Times report over the weekend accused Hegseth of sharing operational details about U.S. military activity in Yemen through a personal Signal chat that included his wife and brother.
“Should you be saying that to friends and family? That’s another thing,” Kilmeade said. “Also could be part of a learning curve.
The second Signal scandal came after The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg revealed he was inadvertently invited by National Security adviser Mike Waltz to a group chat discussing military plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen. Hegseth was included in the chat.
Read the Fox & Friends exchange here:
AINSLEY EARHARDT: Pete is going to be coming up on our show…Brian is going to interview him.
BRIAN KILMEADE: Three staffers let go. They don’t know why they were let go. They said they were accused of leaking. None of them had a polygraph test. None of them had their phones taken away. None of them had their laptops taken away. They are technically on leave. Also this morning, it looks like his chief of staff, Joe Casper, might be going in the next coming days. So we’ll see. Good to have people that weren’t working against you in an operation this size.
EARHARDT: President standing by him. You heard him at the Easter egg roll saying this is fake news. This is what the media does. Don’t believe everything you read. We’ll ask Pete about it and see what the story is.
STEVE DOOCY: We will. The New York Times broke this story. The New York Times this morning had a little more background. Before the story broke on Sunday night. The president and Pete spoke on the phone before it was published. And the president told Pete that leakers were to blame and that the president had Pete’s back. And then he told the team to defend Pete. Let’s say it’s the leakers and that essentially is — those are the marching orders from the White House from the president. He blames the leakers for smearing Pete Hegseth, whom you will hear from exclusively in less than an hour.
KILMEADE: By the way, totally accurate. If it wasn’t for the leakers leaking out the Signal chat, then nobody would know. This number two is it was a secure line that they are talking. Should you be saying that to friends and family? That’s another thing. Also could be part of a learning curve. And if this predated the whole thing with the atlantic writer, then have you something that is a story that came out about — as early as the confirmation process. So I think going forward, I think that people got to help him out with staffing and get people you can depend on and would help if everyone got in the same line. The other problem is people in the Pentagon that want to very fervent that Iran can’t be trusted and needs to have their weapons taken out. And other people are pushing for talks. And within the Pentagon, maybe people are jockeying for influence by going after people that disagree with them.
During the interview , which aired an hour later, Hegseth reiterated his claim that any information he shared in a Signal group chat was not classified, nor did he break any security protocol, insisting that the data he shared was “informal and unclassified.”
“We take classification very seriously,” he said, reiterating a prior claim made during the first SignalGate storyline that no one was texting war plans. He also blamed the new allegations on people “trying to get at” the Trump agenda and trying to sabotage the administration.
He said the new allegations are “not based in reality.”
Hegseth also noted that the ongoing leak investigation continues and that “everything we do” at the Pentagon is to safeguard information to protect soldiers, and that the people let go came as a result of an internal investigation, defiantly blasting the crew he had fired. “Once a leaker, always a leaker.”
“Mr. Secretary, do you think you take this job, you come in with war experience and all your great background?” Kilmeade asked, “Do you think there are a lot of people who don’t want you there, and there are some type of steep deep state forces that want to make sure you don’t stay there?”
“They’ve come after me from Day 1, just like they’ve come after President Trump,” Hegwseth replied. “I mean, I’ve gotten a fraction of what President Trump got in that first term. What he’s endured is superhuman.”
Watch above via Fox News.
The post Fox’s Brian Kilmeade Says Pete Hegseth’s Second Signal Scandal May Be ‘Part of a Learning Curve’ first appeared on Mediaite .
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