Pentagon to probe defence chief Pete Hegseth over Signal chat row

Donald Trump’s defence secretary Pete Hegseth will come under investigation from the Pentagon’s top watchdog over whether or not he shared classified information on unclassified networks.

The Pentagon inspector general’s office will investigate Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of commercial messaging app Signal to discuss air strikes on Yemen.

President Donald Trump’s administration is facing a scandal over the accidental leak of a group chat by senior security officials on the strikes, which targeted Yemen’s Huthi rebels.

The probe will evaluate the extent to which Hegseth and other defence personnel complied with “policies and procedures for the use of a commercial messaging application for official business,” said a memo from acting inspector general Steven Stebbins.

They will also review “compliance with classification and records retention requirements,” it said.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is under scrutiny over ‘SignalGate’. Picture: AFP

The investigation came in response to a request from the top two members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, a Republican and a Democrat, the memo said.

The Atlantic magazine revealed last week that its editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertently included in the Signal chat in which officials including Hegseth and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz discussed the strikes.

The magazine initially withheld the details the officials discussed, but later published them after the White House insisted that no classified information was shared and attacked Goldberg as a liar.

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US SECURITY SCANDAL DEEPENS

America’s national security advisor and another staff member used Gmail for official communications, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing documents and interviews with US officials.

The newspaper said that one of Mike Waltz’s senior aides used Gmail to discuss military positions and weapons systems, while the national security advisor himself had his schedule and other work documents sent to his account on the email service.

It is the latest example of Waltz engaging in questionable security practices, after he inadvertently added The Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief to a group chat last month on Signal.

Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor Mike Waltz is engaging in questionable security practices. Picture: AFP

Officials including Waltz and Hegseth used the chat to talk about details of Yemen air strike timings and intelligence, unaware that the highly sensitive information was being simultaneously read by a member of the media.

Waltz told Fox News host Laura Ingraham last week that he took “full responsibility” for the breach, saying: “I built the group; my job is to make sure everything’s co-ordinated.”

Mr Trump has rejected calls to sack Waltz or Hegseth and branded the scandal a “witch hunt.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt meanwhile told journalists on Tuesday that “the case is closed, and the president continues to have confidence in his national security advisor.” But the Gmail revelations could add to pressure for Waltz’s removal from office.

US SENATOR SMASHES RECORD WITH 25-HR ANTI-TRUMP SPEECH

A Democratic US politician shattered a record for the longest speech in Senate history Tuesday, staying on his feet for more than 25 hours to deliver a fiery protest against President Donald Trump’s “unconstitutional” actions.

Senator Cory Booker’s display of endurance – to hold the floor he had to remain standing and could not even go to the bathroom – recalled the famous scene in Frank Capra’s 1939 film classic “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”

The longest Senate speech on record before Tuesday was delivered by South Carolina’s Strom Thurmond, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

Booker, only the fourth Black senator to be popularly elected to the body, blew past that deadline, his voice still strong but emotional as he topped out at 25 hours and five minutes.

“Storm Thurmond’s record always … really irked me,” he later told broadcaster MSNBC.

Senator Cory Booker, D-N.J. speaks on the Senate floor, Tuesday morning. Picture: Senate Television via AP

“That the longest speech on our great Senate floor was someone who was trying to stop people like me from being in the Senate.”

The public galleries of the Senate chamber gradually filled as the moment he broke the record approached, with more Democratic politicians joining the session – although Republicans largely stayed away.

“This is a moral moment. It’s not left or right. It’s right or wrong,” Booker said as he wrapped up.

He also quoted his mentor John Lewis, a 1960s civil rights movement leader, who urged campaigners to get into “good trouble,” before finally pronouncing “Madam President, I yield the floor.”

The 55-year-old New Jersey native had found a moment for some humour as he passed the record, joking: “I want to go a little bit past this and then I’m going to deal with some of the biological urgencies I’m feeling.”

DEMOCRATS SUE TRUMP OVER VOTING CHANGES

The Democratic Party has sued the Trump administration over an attempt to impose sweeping changes on the election systems, including requiring citizenship proof to register to vote and limiting mail-in ballot counting.

In a lawsuit filed Monday, the Democratic Party asked a federal court to block the executive order, which prevents states from counting mail-in ballots that arrive after election day. The president’s directive also requires proof of citizenship to be presented – through documents such as a passport – when registering to vote.

“The President does not get to dictate the rules of our elections,” said the lawsuit filed in Washington by the Democratic National Committee, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and others.

“The Executive Order seeks to impose radical changes on how Americans register to vote, cast a ballot, and participate in our democracy – all of which threaten to disenfranchise lawful voters and none of which is legal,” it added.

Donald Trump speaks at a reception celebrating Women's History Month in the East Room of the White House. Picture: AP

After signing the March 25 order, called “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections”, US President Donald Trump described it as “the farthest-reaching executive action taken” to secure US elections.

Mr Trump, who does not acknowledge his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, has long questioned the integrity of the US electoral system. He has amplified conspiracy theories about massive election fraud in the United States, particularly involving absentee voting.

Advocacy groups led by the Campaign Legal Centre and State Democracy Defenders Fund filed a separate lawsuit on Monday against the same executive order.

“The president’s executive order is an unlawful action that threatens to uproot our tried-and-tested election systems and silence potentially millions of Americans,” Danielle Lang of the Campaign Legal Centre said in a statement.

“It is simply not within the president’s authority to set election rules by executive decree, especially when they would restrict access to voting in this way.”

Meanwhile, nearly two dozen US states sued the Trump administration over its decision to rescind billions in health care funding.

Mass lay-offs at the US Health and Human Services Department began in an overhaul expected to purge 10,000 employees from the department.

ICE DEPORTATIONS SURGE PAST 100,000

Deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement surged above 100,000 since President Trump returned to the White House in January.

ICE officials have made 113,000 arrests and carried out “north of” 100,000 deportations since Mr Trump’s January 20 inauguration, a Department of Homeland Security source told The New York Post.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many detainees are convicted criminals, the status of their cases and their national origins, though sources believe the majority are being removed to Mexico.

Guards transfer deportees from the US to the Terrorism Confinement Centre in Tecoluca, El Salvador. Picture: El Salvador presidential press office via AP

ICE has since “maxed out” its detention space and is asking Congress to fund additional beds to support the Trump administration’s deportation campaign that yielded 32,000 arrests in its first 50 days.

President Trump has also taken aggressive measures to quell transnational criminal organisations, such as invoking the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan gang members to a notorious El Salvadoran “hellhole” mega prison without a trial.

Seventeen alleged Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gang members were handed over to El Salvador in shackles on Sunday night despite the usage of that rarely used wartime act being blocked by a federal judge earlier this month.

TRUMP TO TAKE FIRST OVERSEAS TRIP

Donald Trump may visit Saudi Arabia as soon as next month, he told reporters at the White House, in what could be his first overseas trip since his return to power.

“It could be next month, maybe a little bit later. And we’re going to Qatar, also, and also we’re going to possibly a couple of other countries. UAE is very important … so we’ll probably stop at UAE and Qatar,” the US President said.

He said Saudi officials had agreed to “spend close to a trillion dollars … in our American companies, which to me means jobs.”

US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press while returning to Washington, DC on Air Force One. Picture: AFP

The US companies will be making equipment for Saudi Arabia and other places in the Middle East, the president continued, adding: “And for that, I think it’s worth it.”
In January, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman promised to pile $US600 billion into US trade and investments.

Mr Trump’s first visit as president in 2017 was to Saudi Arabia.

He forged close relations with Riyadh in his first term and is expected to push Saudi Arabia, home of Islam’s holiest sites, towards normalising ties with Israel as a major foreign policy objective.

President Donald Trump walks down the stairs of Air Force One upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Picture: AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez

TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER CRACKS DOWN ON TICKET SCALPING

With American entertainer Kid Rock at his side, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order clamping down on ticket scalping and live event pricing.

The directive seeks to prevent “unscrupulous middlemen” from profiting off reselling tickets for concerts and other events at an “enormous mark-up”.

It orders the US attorney general and the Treasury secretary to use “all legal means” to stamp out soaring price gouging, and calls on the Federal Trade Commission to “ensure price transparency at all stages of the ticket-purchase process, including the secondary ticketing market.”

US President Donald Trump signs an executive order alongside US singer Kid Rock in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on March 31, 2025. Picture: AFP

“You can buy a ticket for $100. By the time you check out, it’s $170,” said Kid Rock, who wore a straw fedora and American flag emblazoned red suit to the Oval Office.

The singer added that due to “bots” tickets were being relisted “for sometimes a 400-500 per cent mark-up.”

The administration of Mr Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden also targeted scalpers, suing concert booking website Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation Entertainment last year over monopoly allegations.

In a statement Live Nation, which has denied monopoly allegations, said it supports President Trump’s order, and called for enforcement.

MUSK GIVES AWAY $1 MILLION CHEQUES

The world’s richest man took to the stage in the US state of Wisconsin on Sunday, US time, in a bid to swing the local supreme court to the right, with the help of two US$1 million cheques for voters.

Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla and SpaceX and an adviser to US President Donald Trump, deployed his largesse along with his rhetoric to try to turn out the vote on Tuesday in favour of a conservative judge.

Wisconsin is a swing state, in the balance between the Democratic and Republican parties, and Musk argued that only a supreme court leaning to the right could protect pro-Trump districts from gerrymandering and voter fraud.

Elon Musk wears a Cheesehead hat as he speaks during a town hall in Green Bay, Wisconsin on March 30, 2025. Picture: AFP

“What’s happening on Tuesday is a vote for which party controls the US House of Representatives,” Musk declared, arguing that the federal congress was so evenly balanced Wisconsin’s seats could decide its majority.

“And whichever party controls the House … to a significant degree, controls the country, which then steers the course of Western civilisation,” said Musk, who arrived wearing the “cheese head” wedge hat favoured by local football fans.

“So it’s like, I feel like this is one of those things that may not seem that it’s going to affect the entire destiny of humanity, but I think it will.”

There was an enthusiastic crowd at Musk’s Green Bay rally but, at small-town meetings, the South African-born oligarch’s eruption into Wisconsin’s affairs seems to have provoked as much resistance as support.

Rob Patterson, a 65-year-old retired electrical engineer, came to a rally in Crawford with a sign showing Musk giving a straight-armed salute.

“Oi wanker, our Supreme Court is not for sale,” the sign read.

AYATOLLAH WARNS OF ‘STRONG RESPONSE’ IF TRUMP ATTACKS IRAN

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Monday of a forceful retaliation if the United States or its allies bomb the Islamic republic, following a threat by President Donald Trump.

“They threaten to do mischief,” Khamenei said of Mr Trump’s latest threat, during a speech on Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

“If it is carried out, they will definitely receive a strong counter-attack.”

It comes as Mr Trump told NBC on the weekend that if Iran doesn’t make a nuclear deal “there will be bombing”.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, in a post on X, said that “an open threat of bombing by a head of state against Iran is a shocking affront to the very essence of international peace and security.”

Baqaei warned of unspecified “consequences” should the United State choose a path of “violence”.

– with AFP

Originally published as Pentagon to probe defence chief Pete Hegseth over Signal chat row