Rep. Don Bacon became the first resident Republican on Monday when President Trump suggested that fire secretary Pete Hegses should be fired up due to another controversy over fraudulent disclosures of war plans.
“Pete Hegses had little experience, so I was most concerned,” Bacon (R-Neb.), a former Air Force brigadier general who criticized Trump for dealing with the war in Ukraine, told Politico. “I like him at Fox. But does he have experience leading one of the world’s biggest organizations? That’s a concern.”
Late Sunday, the New York Times reported that Hegses had sent details of the March 15 strike against Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houtsis to a signalling chat group that includes his wife, brothers and personal lawyers.
The report follows a controversy last month over Atlantic Magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who will include it in a signaling thread detailing the attack plan. The chat group included Vice President JD Vance, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Deputy Chief of Staff of the White House and Homeland Security Policy Advisor Stephen Miller.
“If it’s true that he had something else [Signal] Bacon said Monday.
“I’m not in the White House, I’m not going to tell the White House how to manage this,” he continued. “But I don’t think I’ll accept that.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell It was emphasized In a statement in response to the Times, it was reported that “there was no classified information in the signal chat,” but the bacon did not shake.
“Russia and China will raise thousands of people to monitor all these calls at the top, and the number one goal outside of the president will be the Secretary of Defense,” he said.
“Russia and China are all around his phone, and it’s not right for him to put secret things on his phone. He acts like he’s beyond the law. It shows an amateur.”
When asked to comment on Bacon’s remarks, a Pentagon spokesman said, “I will not comment on what was said by political leaders.”
The White House is openly standing by Hegses, and President Trump told reporters that questions about his work status on Monday were “a waste of time.”
“He’s doing a great job,” the president said on the Easter Egg Roll in the White House. “Ask Houthis how he’s doing.”
“What a surprise that some leaks were fired and so many hits came out of the same media that suddenly pitched Russian hoax,” Heggs told reporters at the same event.
“This is what the media is doing. They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees. They try to cut people, burn them, ruin their reputation.”
The White House also denied National Public Radio’s Monday report that it has begun a search for a new defense secretary.
Bacon represents Nebraska’s second legislative district Vice President Kamala Harris won 2024. Republicans held the battlefield district narrowly this November by increasing the battlefield district by about 1.8 points.
