Hegseth has denied the information he shared was classified, but it was given to him on a system for sensitive and classified information, sources told NBC News.
Minutes before U.S. fighter jets took off to begin strikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen last month, Army Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, who leads U.S. Central Command, used a secure U.S. government system to send detailed information about the operation to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The material Kurilla sent included details about when U.S. fighters would take off and when they would hit their targets — details that could, if they fell into the wrong hands, put the pilots of those fighters in grave danger. But he was doing exactly what he was supposed to: providing Hegseth, his superior, with information he needed to know and using a system specifically designed to safely transmit sensitive and classified information.
But then Hegseth used his personal phone to send some of the same information Kurilla had given him to at least two group text chats on the Signal messaging app, three U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the exchanges told NBC News.
The thing I don’t get is why did he send it to a group chat with his wife and brother? Was it an accident when he meant to share it to the Houthi PC Small Group, or was he testing out the formatting? I don’t really understand what they’d even do with that information?
Either bragging or laundering information to enemies of the US through close family and legal relationships so they are less likely to turn on him.
That’s it. There is no other reason it could be.
Ohh hmm maybe that’s why it was wife and his brother/lawyer, so they can’t testify against him?