Pete Hegseth (00:19):
I tell you something, this is a trip we've had circled on the calendar from the beginning. The Indo-Pacific, shifting priorities to make sure we're deterring threats of the future. President Trump's been focused on that. Reestablishing the warrior ethos, rebuilding our military and ultimately reestablishing deterrents is critically important.
(00:39)
And so we're out here to talk to our commanders and more importantly, meet with the troops all across the Indo-Pacific and then our allies and partners too, who are going to be a critical part of ensuring the future in this region is free. And so we're glad to be here. It's a beautiful day. Had a full work day on the plane. Now we've got a full work day here as well, and looking forward to it.
Journalist (01:00):
Just a sec.
Pete Hegseth (01:01):
One question.
Journalist (01:02):
Can you share how your information about war plants against the Houthis in Yemen was shared with a journalist in the Atlantic? And were those details classified?
Pete Hegseth (01:13):
So you're talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who's made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again to include, I don't know, the hoaxes of Russia, Russia, Russia, or the fine people on both sides hoax, or suckers and losers hoax. So this is the guy that peddles in garbage. This is what he does. I would love to comment on the Houthi campaign because of the skill and courage of our troops. I've monitored it very closely from the beginning.
(01:48)
And you see, we've been managing four years of deferred maintenance under the Trump administration. Our troops, our sailors, were getting shot at as targets. Our ships couldn't sail through. And when they did shoot back, it was purely defensively or at shacks in Yemen. President Trump said, "No more. We will reestablish deterrents. We will open freedom of navigation and we will ultimately decimate the Houthis," which is exactly what we're doing as we speak from the beginning, overwhelmingly.
Journalist (02:19):
Why were those details shared on Signal and how did you learn that a journalist was privy to the targets, the types of weapons used? And the timing-
Pete Hegseth (02:27):
I've heard that was characterized. Nobody was texting war plans, and that's all I have to say about that. Thank you. Appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
All right, that's it. That's it. That's it.
Journalist (02:35):
The NSC said it was authentic. Secretary, sorry.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
All right.
