White House Dismisses NPR Report of Hegseth Replacement Search as 'Fake News'

On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt took to social media and called an NPR report "fake news." The report, which cited an anonymous U.S. official, said the White House had started looking for someone to replace Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Leavitt rejected the claim that the administration is seeking a new defense secretary.

The NPR story landed in the middle of a second controversy over Hegseth's use of the Signal messaging app. In this one, Hegseth is alleged to have shared detailed plans for a military operation in Yemen with a group that included members of his family. A watchdog group's filing, described below, puts those family members as his wife and brother.

President Donald Trump spoke with Hegseth by phone on Sunday night about the matter and defended him publicly on Monday. Asked about the new chat, Trump called it "an old one." Hegseth, making his first public appearance since the news broke, condemned the leaks and the press reports about them.

The pressure is not coming only from the press. Republican Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska, a retired Air Force brigadier general who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, told Politico, "It looks like there's a meltdown going on." He said there was "a lot of smoke" coming from the Pentagon and that he had to believe there was fire somewhere. In comments to Newsweek, he added that if the reporting is true it is unacceptable, and that while he would never tell the White House what to do, he would not tolerate it.

John Ullyot, a former senior Defense Department spokesperson who resigned last week, wrote in a Politico opinion piece on Saturday that it is "hard to see" Hegseth staying much longer after what he called a month of total chaos at the Pentagon. The article's reference to high-profile firings points to turmoil inside the department beyond the chat itself.

The White House has answered on substance as well as tone. Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told Newsweek that no matter how often the media revives the same non-story, no classified information was shared. She said recently fired "leakers" were misrepresenting the truth to soothe bruised egos and undermine the president's agenda, and that the administration would keep holding them accountable.

There is also a legal track. A Washington-based watchdog group sued Hegseth and other senior officials last month, alleging violations of the Federal Records Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. That suit followed reports that senior officials used Signal to discuss a strike on the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. On Monday the group said it would file an amended complaint adding the separate chat Hegseth had with his wife and brother. It wants a federal judge to declare that conversation subject to federal records law, which requires officials to preserve communications about official business. Interim executive director Chioma Chukwu called the case a clear and urgent threat to the preservation of government records.

What is established is narrow: the White House denies the NPR report, Trump is backing Hegseth publicly, and a records case is widening. The replacement search rests on one anonymous source and a flat denial. The next signals will be the amended court filing, any further leaks, and whether more departures follow at the Pentagon.