Donald Trump urged to fire US defence secretary Pete Hegseth over war plans leak

Donald Trump has been urged to fire US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth following the leak of highly sensitive war plans - as national security adviser Mike Waltz said he took "full responsibility" for organising the group chat.

The conversation on the messaging app Signal between US officials, including vice president JD Vance and Mr Hegseth, was leaked to American journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, who was added to the chat in error.

They discussed plans to conduct airstrikes on Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis, which took place on 15 March.

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Mr Waltz - who had mistakenly added Mr Goldberg to the Signal discussion - said: "I take full responsibility...I built the group."

Democratic congressman Hakeem Jeffries, minority leader of the US House of Representatives, described Mr Hegseth as "the most unqualified Secretary of Defence in American history" and called for him to be sacked.

"His continued presence in the top position of leadership at the Pentagon threatens the nation's security and puts our brave men and women in uniform throughout the world in danger," he wrote.

"His behaviour shocks the conscience, risked American lives and likely violated the law.

"Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth should be fired immediately."

Speaking from the White House, Mr Trump downplayed the incident and said he believed the chat contained "no classified information".

"They were using an app, as I understand it, that a lot of people in government use, a lot of people in the media use," he told reporters.

Mr Trump expressed support for Mr Waltz, telling NBC News his national security adviser "has learned a lesson, and he's a good man".

The US president said officials would "probably" not use Signal any longer but did not agree to a full investigation of what Democrats have called a major security breach which required high-level resignations.

Included in the conversation on Signal were Mr Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Mr Hegseth.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA director John Ratcliffe - who were both also in the chat - testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday that no classified material was shared.

But Democratic senators have voiced scepticism, noting that Mr Goldberg - The Atlantic editor-in-chief - reported Mr Hegseth posted operational details "including information about targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing".

Republican majority leader, John Thune, said on Tuesday he expected the Senate Armed Services Committee to look into Trump administration officials' use of Signal.

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Meanwhile, the White House has mostly attacked the journalist responsible for the original story instead of admitting culpability. The integrity of Mr Goldberg has been repeatedly called into question.

Posting on X, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt accused Mr Goldberg of sensationalising the story, and White House communications director Steven Cheung called the media coverage of the security breach a "witch hunt".

The Atlantic has hit back, dismissing those claims. "Attempts to disparage and discredit The Atlantic, our editor, and our reporting follow an obvious playbook by elected officials and others in power who are hostile to journalists and the First Amendment rights of all Americans," it said in a statement.

Mr Hegseth told reporters on Monday no one had texted war plans - prompting Mr Goldberg to call those comments a lie during an interview on CNN.

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It remains unclear why the officials chose to chat via Signal instead of secure government channels typically used for sensitive discussions.

The Pentagon reportedly warned of a known vulnerability on the Signal chat app, in an email sent out prior to the publication of The Atlantic article, according to reports by Sky News' US partner network NBC News.

The email reported: "Russia-aligned threat groups are actively targeting the Signal Messenger application of individuals likely to exchange sensitive military and government communications related to the war in Ukraine".

Employees were told the vulnerability could be mitigated by updating to the latest version of the app and applying proper settings.

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