There are now numerous reports the US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was sharing sensitive military plans in a second Signal chat — a development that has been slammed as the latest in a "month from hell" for the Pentagon.
The reports have prompted calls for Mr Hegseth to be fired and come as the former top Pentagon spokesperson alleges the past month has seen "chaos" and "dysfunction" reign under his leadership.
Last month, a reporter from The Atlantic published their account of being added to a group chat on the messaging app Signal and watching live as details about an imminent United States attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen were dropped into the thread by a user calling themselves Pete Hegseth.
At the time, the Pentagon boss tried to dismiss security concerns, saying: "No-one was texting war plans."
There were warnings the Signal mistake could really cost the Trump administration because national security is an issue of great importance to the president's supporter base.
But Donald Trump tried to minimise what was widely considered to be a security breach by describing it as "a glitch" and standing by both his national security adviser Mike Waltz, who launched the group chat, and Mr Hegseth, who populated it with information Senate Democrats argued should have been classified.
But the issue has not gone away, and pressure has been mounting on Mr Hegseth.
That is because now there are new reports in The New York Times, CNN and The Associated Press that Mr Hegseth had also been sharing information about the attack into a second Signal group chat.
The New York Times reported this second chat was started by Mr Hegseth, included members of his family and his private attorney, and was run from his personal phone.
The reports come just days after three of Mr Hegseth's long-serving advisers were put on leave from their Pentagon positions under suspicion of leaking sensitive information, but reportedly without being given any details of any investigations into their conduct.
And a former senior spokesperson for the Department of Defense has published a scathing opinion piece in Politico saying: "It's been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon."
John Ullyot wrote that the first Signal story — published by The Atlantic reporter Jeffrey Goldberg — was "the beginning of the Month from Hell".
"Unfortunately, after a terrible month, the Pentagon focus is no longer on war-fighting, but on endless drama," Mr Ullyot wrote.
"President Donald Trump has a strong record of holding his top officials to account. Given that, it's hard to see Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remaining in his role for much longer."
So far, the president is backing his man, insisting Mr Hegseth is "doing a great job" and suggesting that former staff are spreading "fake news".
"I guess it sounds like disgruntled employees," Mr Trump told reporters at Easter Monday celebrations at the White House.
"You know, he was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people, and that's what he's doing. So you don't always have friends when you do that."
At the same event, Mr Hegseth said: "I have spoken to the president, and we are going to continue fighting on the same page all the way."
But this week, Washington will be focused on the fate of Mr Hegseth and watching his boss, Mr Trump, for any signs his controversial pick for secretary of defense might not survive.
The alleged leaks, the probes and confusion
Back in December, Mr Hegseth was considered one of Mr Trump's most surprising presidential nominations.
During Mr Hegseth's confirmation hearing, Democrats voiced concerns about his inexperience, alleged drunkenness and past opposition to women in combat.
But he was sworn in as secretary of defense and gained control over an organisation with an annual budget of nearly $US1 trillion ($2.02 trillion), 1.3 million active-duty service members and nearly 1 million civilian workers.
Just months into the job, he faces serious challenges.
He is being investigated by the Pentagon watchdog over the initial Signal group chat.
There have been calls for that to be broadened to include the second group chat too.
All the while, there has been a crackdown by the Trump administration on the leaking of classified and sensitive information.
Mr Hegseth has seized on that to launch probes into his staff on the grounds of national security.
So while wars rage, and Mr Hegseth messages details of upcoming military strikes to Signal group chats, heads within his organisation have started to roll over national security concerns.
Three top Pentagon officials who worked closely under him have been sent on leave as part of an ongoing probe into "unauthorised disclosures of national security information".
"The use of polygraphs in the execution of this investigation will be in accordance with applicable law and policy," Mr Hegseth's chief of staff, Joe Kasper, wrote in a memo on March 21.
One of Mr Hegseth's senior advisers, Dan Caldwell, was escorted from the Pentagon after being identified in the probe.
The two other senior officials sent on leave were Colin Carroll, chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, and Darin Selnick, Mr Hegseth's deputy chief of staff.
All three said they were "incredibly disappointed" by the way their "service at the Department of Defense ended".
"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 statement posted to X.
There's not been any official word about exactly what was leaked, or who the information was given to.
But Politico reported the leaks related to a proposed visit to the Pentagon by Elon Musk to discuss China, suspending intelligence collecting for Ukraine, military plans in the Panama Canal and increasing the size of US naval forces in the Middle East with a second aircraft carrier going to the Red Sea.
Mr Trump was reportedly so enraged by the leaks of Mr Musk's intended visit to the Pentagon he shut it down himself.
"What the f**k is Elon doing there? Make sure he doesn't go," Mr Trump said, according to Axios.
Mr Hegseth is now down a deputy chief of staff and a senior adviser, and reportedly he will soon also lose his chief of staff, Mr Kasper.
"There is a complete meltdown in the building, and this is really reflecting on the secretary's leadership," a senior Defense official told Politico.
Along with the leading officials sent on leave under the leaking investigation, other senior military officers have been fired.
That list includes the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top admiral in the navy, and the head of the US Cyber Command, according to Reuters.
Mr Ullyot, Mr Hegseth's former press secretary, has also left.
He said he was not "a victim of this purge of his senior leadership". The Pentagon said, however, that Mr Ullyot was asked to resign.
In his critical opinion piece, Mr Ullyot said the month of chaos at the Pentagon was "a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership".
The White House has dismissed the report of the second Signal chat as a "non-story".
"This is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and working against the monumental change that you are trying to implement," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday.
'Pete Hegseth must be fired'
The Associated Press has reported that there were 13 people in the second Signal group chat.
The New York Times reported the chat included Pete Hegseth's wife Jennifer as well as his brother Phil and lawyer Tim Parlatore — two men who are now Department of Defense employees.
Mr Hegseth's brother Phil is a Department of Homeland Security liaison to the Pentagon.
But the Pentagon's so-called "month from hell" has also seen The Wall Street Journal reporting on Ms Hegseth's attendance at high-level meetings.
Jennifer Rauchet is a former Fox News producer and has attended sensitive meetings with foreign military counterparts, according to images the Pentagon has publicly posted.
During a meeting Mr Hegseth had with his British counterpart at the Pentagon in March, his wife could be seen sitting behind him.
As the US tries to broker a deal between Moscow and Kyiv to end the war in Ukraine and wages its own trade war on China, while pushing every other trading partner into robust negotiations, Mr Hegseth is coming under fire for seemingly avoidable things.
After multiple uses of Signal to share highly sensitive military information, his family's presence at high-level meetings and a purge of senior staff inside his department, there are calls for him to be removed as Secretary of Defense.
Democrats Chuck Schumer and Pete Buttigieg renewed the calls on Sunday, local time.
"The details keep coming out. We keep learning how Pete Hegseth put lives at risk. But Trump is still too weak to fire him. Pete Hegseth must be fired," Mr Schumer posted to social media platform X.
Mr Buttigieg wrote: "The Secretary is unfit to lead."
Mr Trump is approaching the first 100 days milestone of his second presidential term. In American politics, it's a significant moment and pundits will take the chance to analyse his performance.
As Mr Hegseth's former press secretary Mr Ullyot wrote, it may also be that people inside his administration are also ready to analyse how he deals with the current state of the Pentagon.
"Given his record of holding prior Cabinet leaders accountable, many in the secretary's own inner circle will applaud quietly if Trump chooses to do the same in short order at the top of the Defense Department."
