Hegseth blames 'anonymous smears,' Trump defends him after 2nd Signal chat revealed

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday reacted to the revelation he discussed details about an imminent attack on Houthis in Yemen in March in a second Signal group chat -- one that included his wife and brother.

Speaking to reporters at the White House Easter Egg Roll, which he attended with his family, Hegseth attacked those he said were "disgruntled" former employees and the media for what he said was "anonymous smears."

"I have spoken with the president and we are going to continue fighting. On the same page all the way," Hegseth said.

President Donald Trump defended Hegseth and said he still has "great confidence" in him as he took reporter questions at the White House celebration.

"Here we go again. Just a waste of time. He is doing a great job," Trump said of Hegseth.

"Ask the Houthis how he's doing," the president added.

Sources told ABC News that Hegseth shared information about a forthcoming attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen in a Signal message chat that included his wife Jennifer, who does not work for the Defense Department, as well as his brother and his personal lawyer.

Hegseth did not explicitly deny the report as he was asked to respond to the reports on Monday.

“They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees, and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations. Not going to work with me, because we're changing the Defense Department, putting the Pentagon back in the hands of war fighters and anonymous smears from disgruntled former employees on old news doesn't matter,” he said.

The second Signal chat reportedly occurred around the same time that top Trump officials, including Hegseth, discussed a strike on Houthis over the commercially available app. That text chain came to light because inadvertently added to the chat was The Atlantic's Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg. The Pentagon's independent inspector general is currently reviewing Hegseth's use of Signal to discuss military actions.

More than three dozen Democrats have publicly called on Hegseth to resign or to be fired, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. And Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff asked that the National Archives and Records Administration open an investigation into the Trump administration's use of Signal and other non-governmental messaging applications.

ABC News contributing political correspondent Rachael Bade of Politico reported that Republican Rep. Don Bacon suggested in an interview that Trump should fire Hegseth -- making him the first congressional Republican to do so.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, pressed on the latest revelation on "Fox & Friends" on Monday, said "the president stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth" and said Hegseth "is doing a phenomenal job leading the Pentagon."

The use of Signal to discuss sensitive military operations may complicate ongoing investigations into potential leaks involving the first known group chat, which included top aides and other members of Hegseth's team -- at least three of whom have been since fired in relation to the inquiry.

Those officials -- Dan Caldwell, Colin Carroll and Darin Selnick -- have since spoken out against what they say are baseless accusations against them.

"At this time, we still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of 'leaks' to begin with," they said in a joint statement on X on April 19.

Leavitt, when responding to the Hegseth news on Monday, also sought to blame former employees as she defended the defense secretary.

“The administration and the president have taken a very strong stance against anyone who leaks, especially sensitive and classified information that can put our troops and our war fighters at risk," Leavitt said on Fox. "And you've seen the secretary has taken very strong action to rein in the leakers at the Pentagon and he will continue to do so I'm sure."

Meanwhile, a watchdog group is renewing its lawsuit against the Trump administration over the “widespread” use of Signal, arguing that Cabinet-level officials have failed to preserve government records as required by law.

The group asked a federal judge to declare the use of Signal unlawful and direct the matter to the attorney general to attempt to recover the “unlawfully destroyed records.”

American Oversight originally filed its lawsuit over the use of Signal last month and secured an order requiring the Trump administration to preserve the messages; however, in the weeks since Judge James Boasberg issued his order, multiple Cabinet-levels have been unable to fully save the messages. Some officials have been able to preserve portions of the chat, and a CIA representative told Boasberg that no substantive messages could be recovered from CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s phone.

Citing public reporting -- including that about Hegseth’s chat with his wife and brother as well as additional reporting regarding the existence of 20 or more foreign policy-related Signal chats -- American Oversight argued that the unlawful use of the commercially available application is common across the Trump administration.

“It is now clear that the use of Signal to conduct official government business by administration officials is widespread,” it argued.

ABC News' Luis Martinez, Kelsey Walsh and Peter Charalambous contributed to this report.