Longtime Fox News analyst Brit Hume called out Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s latest excuse for the group messaging scandal in which highly classified information was accidentally shared with a journalist.
Asked to explain, Hegseth instead attacked the journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.
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“You’re talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again,” Hegseth said.
But Hume was quick to point out the glaring flaw in Hegseth’s excuse: It wasn’t a hoax, as the National Security Council confirmed that the messages accidentally sent to Goldberg were legit:
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National security adviser Michael Waltz reportedly added Goldberg by accident to a group chat that also included Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard as the group discussed highly classified plans for military action in Yemen and other extremely sensitive matters.
Despite Hegseth’s claims, the group chat was confirmed by the White House.
“This appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain,” National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a statement. “The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to troops or national security.”