OAN Staff James Meyers
3:37 PM – Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sharply criticized what he described as the “hoax press,” while also directing blame at his recently dismissed aides, whom he accused of disseminating falsehoods regarding recent controversies that have unfolded during his tenure.
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“I don’t have time for leakers. I don’t have time for the hoax press that peddles old stories from disgruntled employees,” he said of the ousted aides.
On Tuesday, Hegseth vowed in a Fox News interview on Tuesday morning that all persons found to be leaking sensitive U.S. military plans will be referred to the Justice Department (DOJ) for prosecution.
“When that evidence is gathered sufficiently — and this has all happened very quickly — it will be handed over to DOJ, and those people will be prosecuted if necessary,” Hegseth told “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade.
“We don’t think, based on what we understand, that it’s going to be a good day for a number of those individuals because of what was found in the investigation,” he said.
“The leakers know who they are, and we know over time the truth will be told, and we stand firm behind that.”
Hegseth further stated in the interview that the investigation is looking to uncover who may have leaked operational plans for the Panama Canal, as well as who shared details about a private briefing with Tesla founder Elon Musk.
Additionally, the Pentagon chief confirmed that multiple Defense Department employees, including senior adviser Dan Caldwell, deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick, chief of staff to the deputy defense secretary Colin Carroll, and top spokesman John Ullyot — have all been let go as a result of the initial probe’s findings.
“We identified there was sufficient evidence,” he said, before taking a swipe at Ullyot, who helped write an op-ed piece in Politico calling for President Donald Trump to fire Hegseth in particular: “Anybody that knows John knows why we let him go.”
“He did some good work up front, then he was moved along and asked to move along,” Hegseth said. “We did right by him. We tried to help. He’s spinning it otherwise. It’s too bad. It’s politics, I guess.”
“I don’t have time for leakers. I don’t have time for the hoax press that peddles old stories from disgruntled employees,” he added of the ousted aides. “We should be talking about the decimation of the Houthis, how we’re pushing back the Chinese, how we have a new defense area at the southern border.”
Caldwell has since denied that he made any unauthorized releases of secret military information to any journalists in an interview with Tucker Carlson on Monday.
“If I actually did some of the things that anonymous people on the internet and in the Pentagon are saying I did, I’d be in handcuffs,” he said.
Hegseth also emphasized that nobody would be discussing war plans on an unclassified network. Nevertheless, he has since been rumored to have been involved with another leaked private text chat on the Signal app — which reportedly included his family members.
“I said repeatedly, ‘No one’s texting war plans,’” he told Kilmeade. “What was shared over Signal, then and now, however you characterize it, was informal, unclassified coordinations, for media coordination, [and] other things.”
“Those folks who were leaking, who have been pushed out of the building, are now attempting to leak and sabotage the president’s agenda and what we’re doing,” Hegseth added. “And that’s unfortunate, it’s not what I do. It’s not how we operate.”
The latest disclosures have been referred to the Pentagon’s inspector general as part of a full investigation of Hegseth’s “conduct.”
According to The New York Times, “essentially the same attack plans,” including the flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets targeting the Houthis, were forwarded to the secretary’s wife, Jennifer Rauchet, and brother, Phil Hegseth, who serves as a senior adviser in the Pentagon.
Additionally, on Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shrugged off an NPR report that suggested Trump was looking for potential replacements for Hegseth, following multiple leaks, calling the story as “total FAKE NEWS based on one anonymous source who clearly has no idea what they are talking about.”
“As the President said this morning, he stands strongly behind @SecDef,” Leavitt posted in a statement on X.
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