INTERNACIONAL
Hegseth maintains White House backing amid ‘smear campaign’ alleging likely ouster
The White House is steadfast in its support for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth amid media reports regarding his imminent ouster.
Hegseth has attracted scrutiny once more in recent weeks after the New York Times reported Sunday that he disclosed details about a March military airstrike in Yemen against the Houthis in a Signal messaging app group chat that included his wife, brother and lawyer – about a dozen people in total – on a personal phone before his confirmation. Hegseth maintains that no classified information was disclosed over Signal.
The incident follows a similar episode in March, where the Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was included on a Signal group chat with other high-ranking Trump administration officials, including Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance, discussing the same attack on the Houthis. National security advisor Mike Waltz later took «full responsibility» for that chat blunder.
But the White House says it supports Hegseth, and argued he’s faced a «smear campaign» since Trump tapped him for the post in December 2024.
DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH REBUFFS NEW GROUP CHAT ALLEGATIONS AS ATTEMPT TO ‘SABOTAGE’ TRUMP’S AGENDA
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has come under scrutiny amid a new report about his use of a Signal chat, which included his wife and brother, to discuss airstrikes. (Franco Brana/AFP via Getty Images)
«The secretary of defense is doing a tremendous job, and he is bringing monumental change to the Pentagon, and there’s a lot of people in the city who reject monumental change, and I think, frankly, that’s why we’ve seen a smear campaign against the secretary of defense since the moment that President Trump announced his nomination before the United States Senate,» White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday.
«Let me reiterate: the president stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth and the change that he is bringing to the Pentagon, and the results that he’s achieved thus far speak for themselves,» Leavitt said.
Hegseth has received backlash ever since Trump announced his nomination to lead the Pentagon, especially after allegations of sexual assault and alcohol misuse surfaced. In response, Hegseth told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing that he is not a «perfect person,» but asserted that he was the subject of a «coordinated smear campaign orchestrated in the media.»
Ultimately, no Democrats voted to confirm Hegseth. In contrast, only one Democrat voted against Trump’s first secretary of defense in 2016, retired Marine Corps Gen. Jim Mattis.
Hegseth has spearheaded multiple reforms, including a series of efforts to curb diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at the Pentagon that he says are in accordance with executive orders from the Trump administration.
NPR reported Monday that the White House was eyeing a new secretary of defense, but Leavitt shut down the report immediately, labeling the report «fake news.» The NPR story was based on one anonymous U.S. official not authorized to speak to the media.
Meanwhile, Hegseth has maintained that the second Signal chat, like his first, did not include «war plans,» and that all discussions conducted over Signal were unclassified. Included in the group chat were Hegseth’s brother, Phil, who works at the Pentagon as a Department of Homeland Security liaison and senior advisor, according to the Associated Press. The defense secretary’s longtime personal attorney, Tim Parlatore, who was commissioned as a Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps commander right before the Signal chat, was also included, according to the Times report.
«I said repeatedly, nobody is texting war plans,» Hegseth told Fox News Tuesday. «I look at war plans every day. What was shared over Signal then and now, however you characterize it, was informal, unclassified coordinations, for media coordinations and other things. That’s what I’ve said from the beginning.»
Meanwhile, even some in Hegseth’s orbit predict that he will not remain in his post for much longer.
John Ullyot, a former senior communications official for the Pentagon who resigned in April under Hegseth, wrote that the abrupt Friday firings of three of Hegseth’s «most loyal» advisors – his aide Dan Caldwell, his deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick, and chief of staff to the deputy defense secretary, Colin Carroll – were alarming and «baffling.»
«The dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president – who deserves better from his senior leadership,» Ullyot wrote in a Sunday op-ed for Politico.
«Trump has a strong record of holding his top officials to account,» he wrote. «Given that, it’s hard to see Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remaining in his role for much longer.»
Caldwell and Selnick were included in the second Hegseth group chat, according to the Times.
HEGSETH SHARED DETAILS OF YEMEN STRIKES IN SECOND SIGNAL CHAT: REPORT
Sen. Jack Reed is calling for an investigation into Hegseth’s use of Signal. (Reuters)
Senate Democrats are also clamoring for Hegseth to resign. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member, asked the Pentagon’s inspector general to conduct a report into Hegseth’s use of the Signal chat.
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«Since he was nominated, I have warned that Mr. Hegseth lacks the experience, competence, and character to run the Department of Defense,» Reed said in a Sunday statement. «In light of the ongoing chaos, dysfunction, and mass firings under Mr. Hegseth’s leadership, it seems that those objections were well-founded.»
«Accountability starts at the top, and I have grave concerns about Secretary Hegseth’s ability to maintain the trust and confidence of U.S. service members,» he stated.
White House,U.S. Defense & Military Politics,Secretary of Defense,MILITARY,Pentagon
Seguridad, polémica y críticas por la inmigración en Europa
La policía de Escocia refrozó la seguridad cerca del campo de golf de Donald Trump cerca de Aberdeen, este sábado. Foto: REUTERS Opiniones divididas
Manifestantes anti Trump, este sábado en Balmedie, cerca de Aberdeen, en Escocia. Foto: REUTERS Negociaciones con la Unión Europea por los aranceles
Donald Trump,Escocia
INTERNACIONAL
WATCH: Gabbard’s Obama bombshell has GOP demanding accountability while Dems question timing as ‘distraction’
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After reports that top officials from the Obama administration allegedly orchestrated a coordinated attempt to sabotage President Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory, GOP lawmakers are calling for transparency and accountability, while their Democratic colleagues are questioning the timing and credibility of the new claims.
Trump’s director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, released a trove of intelligence documents beginning last week that Gabbard has said show former President Barack Obama and some of his closest advisors promoted a «contrived narrative» that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to sabotage Trump.
However, Democrats have insisted that congressional investigations already prove that Russia did help Trump in the 2016 election, while also questioning the timing of the allegations due to pressure on Trump to release more Epstein files.
«It is profoundly dishonest, and it’s dangerous,» Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told Fox News Digital, in reference to the allegations from Gabbard. «What I have urged the administration to do is engage in radical transparency, make it all public and expose just how much the Obama administration knew what they were doing – that they knew they were lying. I think anybody that violated the law needs to be held accountable.»
DNI GABBARD CLAIMS ‘DEEP STATE ACTORS’ DIDN’T WANT TRUMP-RUSSIA INFORMATION TO ‘SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY’
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, calls for «radical transparency» in response to Gabbard’s release of intelligence files alleging Obama-era meddling. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
But Democratic California Sen. Adam Schiff told Fox News Digital he thinks the allegations are moot, pointing to former FBI Director Robert Mueller’s 2019 report, which he said «documented Russia’s efforts to help denigrate Hillary Clinton, which gave a boost to the Trump campaign.
«I think what Gabbard and her staff are doing is dishonest,» he added.
However, Republican Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford argued it has «long been established» that the Steele dossier was «clearly a Clinton plant» and that the Clinton campaign was actually «cooperating with the Russians to be able to actually use the Russians to be able to interfere with President Trump’s campaign.»
«What Tulsi Gabbard is pulling out is to say, ‘How deep did this go into the White House that they knew about the Steele Dossier, they knew it was a Clinton document. When did they start pushing this out, and what official resources were they using to try to add validity to this to be able to undercut the election?’» Lankford said.
«We got a long way to go still, but it’s good to be able to get all information out, to be able to pull it out there and to say, ‘Let’s let everybody look at it and let the chips fall where they may.’»
OBAMA-ERA OFFICIALS MUM ON ALLEGATIONS OF ‘MANUFACTURED’ INTELLIGENCE LAUNCHING TRUMP-RUSSIA PROBE
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard addresses the press at the White House after declassifying documents she says prove a «contrived» Trump-Russia narrative. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | Fox News Digital)
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said he believed Gabbard was doing the right thing, also expressing hope for extreme transparency amid the alarming allegations.
«Part of what this election was about, it was about transparency and government accountability. And that’s exactly what [Gabbard] is trying to do, and that’s exactly what the Trump administration is trying to do,» Scott said. «Let’s get the people the facts. Let’s follow where the facts are. If somebody’s done anything, we’ll hold them accountable. So, i think the right process is what’s happening.»
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., a former CIA analyst, questioned the timing of Gabbard’s release of the information, saying even her 10-year-old nephew understood the move as «a dodge and a distraction» to get eyes off the ongoing Epstein controversy. Amid Gabbard’s document release at the beginning of last week, Trump has been facing calls from within the GOP for the release of more documents and information pertaining to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., a former CIA analyst, questioned the timing of Gabbard’s disclosures, calling them a «distraction» amid calls for transparency with the Jeffrey Epstein files. (Associated Press )
«President Trump had four years in his first term, and all the time since then, to go after this issue, and he picks the same day that his name appears in the Epstein files to talk about Barack Obama,» Slotkin told Fox News Digital. «American people are not dumb. Like, we get it. Trump wanted to talk about something different. I have to see these reports, and see how they’re sourced. … I like to read and make my own assessment. But the timing can’t be missed. The president is trying to dodge and distract you.»
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While partisan affiliation may play a part in how lawmakers and the broader public view the Obama allegations released by Gabbard, Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., said he thinks the issue «transcends» party affiliation.
«Republican, Democrat, I mean, you know, this is something that transcends all that. This is really important,» Boozman told Fox News Digital. «Hopefully we’ll have open transparency so people will understand what’s going on. And whatever it is, I’m sure Congress will be involved, and certainly the Justice Department is involved. So, I think these are all good things.»
El director de la Agencia de la ONU para los Refugiados Palestinos (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, sostuvo este sábado que la reanudación de los lanzamientos aéreos de ayuda humanitaria en la Franja de Gaza es “costosa, ineficaz y puede inclusive matar a civiles hambrientos”, según sus declaraciones en la red social X.
Lazzarini subrayó que “el lanzamiento aéreo de ayuda no pondrá fin al hambre que se agrava” en el territorio palestino, afectado por una severa catástrofe humanitaria.
El viernes, un funcionario israelí indicó a la agencia AFP que los lanzamientos aéreos de asistencia humanitaria comenzarían nuevamente de forma inminente en Gaza, con Jordania y los Emiratos Árabes Unidos encargándose de la coordinación logística. El ministro de Exteriores emiratí, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, afirmó en X que “la situación humanitaria en Gaza alcanzó un nivel crítico y sin precedentes”, anunciando que “los lanzamientos de ayuda se reanudarán inmediatamente”.
La situación humanitaria en Gaza continúa empeorando, mientras organizaciones internacionales alertan sobre un creciente escenario de desnutrición, especialmente entre la infancia.
“Una hambruna provocada por el hombre solo puede ser resuelta por la voluntad política”, subrayó Lazzarini, y reclamó que la ONU pueda intervenir “a gran escala y sin obstáculos” en la zona.
El gobierno de Israel enfrenta una presión internacional creciente por la dramática situación humanitaria de la población gazatí. Israel impuso un bloqueo total sobre la entrada de ayuda el 2 de marzo, después de la ruptura de las negociaciones para prolongar el alto el fuego en el conflicto, que lleva 21 meses.
El ejército israelí comunicó el viernes que “Israel no limita el número de camiones que entran a la Franja de Gaza”, y argumentó que las “organizaciones humanitarias internacionales y las agencias de las Naciones Unidas no recogen la ayuda cuando ingresa al territorio palestino”.
Sin embargo, numerosas organizaciones en la zona denuncian desde hace meses que enfrentan grandes restricciones y dificultades para distribuir la ayuda dentro de Gaza, a la vez que el acceso por carretera permanece bajo un estricto control israelí. Cogat, organismo del Ministerio de Defensa israelí responsable de los asuntos civiles en los territorios palestinos, aseguró el sábado que había 600 camiones esperando ser descargados por organizaciones internacionales.
Paralelamente, se desarrolla una operación de ayuda a través de la Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, respaldada por Israel y Estados Unidos, aunque esta ha recibido duras críticas internacionales tras incidentes en los que cientos de palestinos murieron por disparos durante la distribución de ayuda.
El sábado se intensificaron los llamamientos internacionales para buscar alternativas que permitan entregar alimentos de manera efectiva a más de dos millones de habitantes de Gaza, con el Reino Unido comprometiéndose a apoyar los lanzamientos aéreos. Downing Street comunicó que el primer ministro británico, Keir Starmer, anunció la colaboración con Jordania y otros socios regionales para reanudar los lanzamientos y evacuar a menores que requieran atención médica urgente.
En una conversación telefónica con el presidente francés, Emmanuel Macron, y el canciller alemán, Friedrich Merz, el primer ministro británico también abordó el impulso de un plan para un alto el fuego inmediato y una paz duradera en la Franja, basada en la solución de dos Estados. Cuando esté preparado dicho plan, los dirigentes aseguraron que lo abrirán a otros aliados internacionales.
Más de 200 diputados británicos instaron recientemente a Starmer a reconocer oficialmente el Estado palestino en la próxima conferencia de Naciones Unidas en Nueva York, auspiciada por Francia y Arabia Saudí, pero el líder laborista sostiene que el reconocimiento solo es útil “como parte de un plan de paz más amplio”.
Desde el inicio de la ofensiva israelí, tras el ataque del grupo terrorista Hamas en octubre de 2023, han muerto 59.733 palestinos, la mayoría civiles, según el Ministerio de Salud de Gaza gobernado por Hamas. El ataque de Hamas causó la muerte de 1.219 personas en Israel, de acuerdo con cifras oficiales.
El grupo de activistas Freedom Flotilla informó que su barco Handala se acercó más que su antecesor Madleen, que fue interceptado y abordado por las fuerzas israelíes el mes anterior, en un intento de entregar ayuda directa a Gaza a pesar del bloqueo naval israelí. El ejército israelí señaló que estaba preparado para hacer valer el “bloqueo marítimo de seguridad legal”.
La comunidad internacional continúa buscando medidas más eficaces para auxiliar a la población palestina ante una crisis alimentaria y humanitaria sin precedentes. Mientras tanto, el debate sobre la mejor forma de aliviar el sufrimiento civil y garantizar el acceso de ayuda esencial sigue sin resolverse.
(Con información de AFP)
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