US President Donald Trump on Wednesday dismissed a scandal over leaked plans for Yemen airstrikes as a “witch hunt” and defended his embattled Pentagon chief amid calls by Democrats for him to quit.
Republican Trump lashed out after The Atlantic magazine published the transcript of messages accidentally shared with its editor in a group chat of senior US officials on Signal, a commercially available messaging app.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth revealed details in the chat including the times of strikes on Iran-backed Houthi rebels and the type of aircraft, missiles and drones used, before the attacks happened, The Atlantic said.
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“Hegseth is doing a great job, he had nothing to do with this,” Trump said when asked in the Oval Office whether Hegseth should consider his position over the scandal.
“How do you bring Hegseth into this? Look, look it’s all a witch hunt,” Trump said.
“The secretary of defense should be fired immediately if he’s not man enough to own up to his mistakes and resign in disgrace,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries told MSNBC.
Roger Wicker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was seeking an independent report from the Trump administration.
Democratic lawmakers in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday sought to force the Trump administration to hand over records related to the disclosure of the highly sensitive attack plans.
The lawmakers filed a resolution that — if passed by the House — would require the Trump administration to transmit a wide range of documents, messaging chats, charts, notes from meetings and telephone records related to the discussion on the Signal app.
However, it is unclear if the resolution would pass a vote by either the House Foreign Affairs Committee or the full House of Representatives, but it would keep alive an issue that the White House has sought to downplay since the story was published in The Atlantic.
A source familiar with the resolution said it is led by Representative Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and backed by every Democrat on the panel.
Under House rules, the resolution of inquiry must be voted on by the relevant House committee —in this case, the Foreign Affairs panel — within 14 days, or Democrats can force a vote in the full House.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
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