Republicans stand by Pete Hegseth amid text dispute as calls for his resignation continue

Sydney Kashiwagi, Star Tribune on Mar 25, 2025

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WASHINGTON — Pete Hegseth’s text chain shared with a journalist divulging national security plans resulted in calls for his resignation just months into his tenure leading the Pentagon.

Democrats called for a full investigation into what happened — and some for Hegseth’s and President Donald Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz’s resignation — after Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic was looped into a text chain. They and other national security leaders were discussing plans to bomb the Houthi rebels in Yemen on the encrypted messaging app Signal.

Goldberg said the thread included sensitive information about the attack, including “specific time of a future attack. Specific targets, including human targets, meant to be killed in that attack. Weapons systems,” he told MSNBC.

Fellow Minnesotan and now head of the Democratic National Committee Ken Martin quickly set the tone for the party Monday evening by calling for Hegseth’s resignation or firing.

“As a Minnesotan, Pete Hegseth is the worst export from Minnesota that we’ve ever seen,” Martin said in an interview sitting alongside U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. “His actions ... undisciplined way of communicating, put Americans’ lives at risk and he needs to either resign or be fired.”

Reps. Kelly Morrison and Ilhan Omar followed Martin’s lead Tuesday. Morrison called for both Hegseth and Waltz’s resignation. Waltz apparently was the first official to loop Goldberg into the text chain.

“This level of negligence in handling American military intelligence is completely unacceptable. Defense Secretary Hegseth and National Security Advisor Waltz must immediately resign — or be fired,” Morrison said in a statement. She also called for a congressional oversight investigation to “ensure this never happens again.”

Omar called Hegseth “an embarrassment to Minnesota” who should resign.

“His complete incompetence and blatantly illegal actions demonstrate he is grossly unfit to lead the Department of Defense,” Omar said in a statement. “He should resign immediately for putting our national security and military personnel at risk.”

The National Security Council confirmed the text chain was authentic. Meanwhile, Hegseth and the White House have denied that any “war plans” were discussed in the thread.

Some Republicans called for an investigation into the incident. But the Trump and other Republicans indicated Tuesday they plan to move on and are standing by Hegseth and Waltz.

“The main thing was, nothing happened,” Trump told reporters Tuesday. “The attack was totally successful. From what I understand, it took place during, and it wasn’t classified information.” Trump also indicated that there likely will be no firings following the incident and does not think Waltz should apologize.

Former Minnesota Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, who helped usher Hegseth through a tough U.S. Senate confirmation process to his post, rebuffed calls for Hegseth to quit.

“I think the calls for resignation are foolishness. Ultimately, people serve at the pleasure of the president.” Coleman said in an interview. “What you got here was, in the end, a public reveal of some very good policy and thoughtful policy discussions. So, no downside in that.”

Asked if he Hegseth should be investigated for the text spat, Rep. Brad Finstad, the only member of Minnesota’s congressional delegation on the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, deferred to the White House.

“Safeguarding classified information is critical to national security,” Finstad said in a statement. “While this situation is still under investigation, I am confident that the Trump Administration will take the necessary steps to address this and ensure it will not happen again.”

Rep. Betty McCollum, who serves as a ranking member on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, also called for a congressional investigation, seeking an understanding if “the inappropriate use of Signal is a widespread practice within the Trump Administration, whether the Espionage Act was violated, and how this security lapse impacts our relationships with intelligence-sharing partners around the globe,”

Sen. Tina Smith slammed the Trump administration for “denying the truth and shifting the blame to anyone but themselves.”

“Real leaders take accountability when they make mistakes. The most senior members of our national security and intelligence community agencies made a colossal mistake,” Smith said in a statement.

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