Rep. Don Bacon became the first sitting House Republican Monday to suggest President Trump should fire Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth following another controversy over unauthorized disclosure of war plans.
“I had concerns from the get-go because Pete Hegseth didn’t have a lot of experience,” Bacon (R-Neb.), a former Air Force brigadier general who has criticized Trump over his handling of the war in Ukraine, told Politico. “I like him on Fox. But does he have the experience to lead one of the largest organizations in the world? That’s a concern.”
Late Sunday, the New York Times reported that Hegseth sent details of a March 15 strike against Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen to a Signal chat group that included his wife, brother and personal attorney.
The report followed controversy last month over the inclusion of Atlantic magazine editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg on a Signal thread detailing the plan of attack. That chat group included Vice President JD Vance, national security adviser Mike Waltz and White House deputy chief of staff and homeland security policy adviser Stephen Miller.
“If it’s true that he had another [Signal] chat with his family, about the missions against the Houthis, it’s totally unacceptable,” Bacon said Monday.
“I’m not in the White House, and I’m not going to tell the White House how to manage this,” he went on, “but I find it unacceptable, and I wouldn’t tolerate it if I was in charge.”
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell was emphatic in a statement responding to the Times report that “there was no classified information in any Signal chat,” but Bacon was not swayed.
“Russia and China put up thousands of people to monitor all these phone calls at the very top, and the No. 1 target besides the president … would be the secretary of defense,” he said.
“Russia and China are all over his phone, and for him to be putting secret stuff on his phone is not right. He’s acting like he’s above the law — and that shows an amateur person.”
When asked for a comment about Bacon’s remarks, a Pentagon spokesperson told The Post, “We do not comment on remarks from political leaders.”
The White House has publicly stood by Hegseth, with President Trump telling reporters Monday questions about his job status were “a waste of time.”
“He’s doing a great job,” the president said at the White House Easter Egg Roll. “Ask the Houthis how he’s doing.”
“What a big surprise that a few leakers get fired and suddenly a bunch of hit pieces come out from the same media that peddled the Russia hoax,” Hegseth told reporters at the same event.
“This is what the media does. They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations.”
The White House also denied a report by National Public Radio Monday that it has begun the search for a new defense secretary.
Bacon represents Nebraska’s 2nd congressional district, which Vice President Kamala Harris won in 2024. The Republican narrowly held the battleground district by about 1.8 percentage points this past November.
