Pressure mounts on Pentagon chief to resign after leaked Yemen airstrike chat

Several members of the Democratic Party in the U.S. Senate have called for the resignation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegset after The Atlantic published additional messages from a Signal chat in which senior U.S. officials discussed airstrikes in Yemen.

Senator Mark Kelly from Arizona, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, stated that Hegset was "the most unprepared nominee for this job we’ve ever seen" and should step down for the safety of Americans, Caliber.Az reports, citing US media.

"This is what happens when you put unqualified people in important jobs where lives are on the line," Kelly said in his statement.

Senator Michael Bennet from Colorado, who also serves on the Intelligence Committee, expressed that both Hegset and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz should resign together.

"There is no doubt this text chain contains highly-classified information. President Trump’s senior-most national security officials should never have used an unsecured group chat for highly-sensitive battle-planning," he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Senator Ruben Gallego from Arizona, a former Marine, agreed that Hegset should resign.

"This could have gotten our men and women killed! Strike times, when planes are taking off, what weapons are being used all shared in unsafe manner. Defence Secertary needs to resign. The incompetence and cover up is embarrassing," he wrote.

Senator Andy Kim from New Jersey also called for the Defense Secretary's resignation.

Earlier this week, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, published an article claiming that Trump's National Security Advisor had mistakenly added him to a Signal chat where senior officials from the administration were discussing the airstrikes in Yemen.

By Tamilla Hasanova