Pete Hegseth under increasing pressure as scandals pile up: "His two big problems have merged"
Washington DC - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is under mounting pressure from scandals surrounding deadly strikes on boats in international waters and his use of Signal to discuss sensitive military information.
Hegseth is no stranger to controversy and was only narrowly confirmed by the Senate earlier this year. But recent events have led to a groundswell of calls for his resignation.
"He's in another difficult position. In fact, his two big problems have now merged," said Mark Cancian, a retired US Marine colonel and senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"But he seems to retain (US President Donald) Trump's confidence, even as he's lost support of some Republicans. So I don't think he's in... (a) fatal situation," he added.
Jim Townsend, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy during the Obama administration, said Hegseth is "on thin ice," and that Trump has "a secretary of defense that is giving him lots of headaches."
Townsend agreed that Hegseth is unlikely to be fired immediately, but said if something happens that "really riles up the Republican Party" or embarrasses Trump's Make America Great Again movement, "they'll probably try to move him somewhere else."
Signalgate could have caused "potential harm to US pilots"
Hegseth came under fire during his confirmation process over alleged financial mismanagement at veterans' nonprofits where he previously worked, reports of excessive drinking, and allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in California.
His time as secretary of defense has also been marred by scandals, including one related to deadly strikes on Yemen that were launched in mid-March.
The Atlantic magazine revealed that its editor-in-chief had been inadvertently included in a Signal chat in which officials, including Hegseth, discussed the upcoming operation and reveled in its success, despite the deaths of dozens of civilians.
The incident sparked an investigation by the Pentagon's independent inspector general's office, which concluded in a report released Thursday that Hegseth's actions could have resulted in "potential harm to US pilots."
Then came the September 2 attack on a boat in the Pacific. An initial strike on left survivors, with a follow-up attack killing those two people. As with other deadly attacks, the Trump administration claimed without evidence that it was targeting drug traffickers – which would, in any case, still not make the strikes legal.
Hegseth and the White House have repeatedly said the decision for the second strike was made by the operational commander, Admiral Frank Bradley, rather than the defense secretary, despite reports that he had issued orders to "kill everybody."
Lawmakers attended a classified briefing on Capitol Hill this week in which they were shown extended video footage of the incident – only a brief part of which has been publicly released.
The footage showed "the United States military attacking shipwrecked sailors – bad guys, bad guys – but attacking shipwrecked sailors," said Democratic Representative Jim Himes.
The pressure on Hegseth is now growing, with Democratic Rep. Shri Thanedar of Michigan on Thursday announcing that he would file articles of impeachment against the former Fox News host.
Cover photo: REUTERS