Trump Defends Hegseth, Suggests Waltz Is to Blame for Signal Leak

US President Donald Trump appeared to shift responsibility for the Signal leak scandal onto national security adviser Mike Waltz during an executive order signing on Wednesday evening. While acknowledging that Waltz had “claimed responsibility,” Trump downplayed any wider involvement and continued to defend Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

“Mike Waltz, I guess he said, he claimed responsibility,” Trump stated. “I would imagine it had nothing to do with anyone else. It was Mike, I guess I don’t know. I always thought it was Mike.”

Trump Defends Hegseth, Calls Scrutiny ‘a Witch Hunt’

Despite the ongoing controversy surrounding leaked discussions of military operations, Trump dismissed concerns about Hegseth’s role in the matter. Hegseth, along with other top officials, had been part of a Signal group chat in which sensitive details about a planned military strike were shared. However, Trump insisted that the defense secretary should not be blamed.

“How do you bring Hegseth into it? He had nothing to do — look, look, it’s all a witch hunt,” Trump said.

While the president initially defended Waltz, stating on Tuesday that he had “learned a lesson” and was “a good man,” his latest comments suggested a growing willingness to let his national security adviser take the fall for the scandal.

Signal Leak Scandal Continues to Haunt Administration

The leak, now dubbed "Signalgate," has put the Trump administration under intense scrutiny for three days. The controversy erupted after Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg revealed that he had been inadvertently added to a Signal group chat, seemingly by Waltz. The group included Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other senior officials.

On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Trump had reviewed the full set of leaked messages published by The Atlantic. However, she avoided calling the messages classified, instead describing them as “a sensitive policy discussion.”

Meanwhile, concerns from military and intelligence officials over the leaked information have intensified. Some officials have called Hegseth’s messages “reckless and dangerous,” arguing that they included sensitive operational details that should never have been shared over an unsecured platform.