Trump stands by Pete Hegseth amid controversy but called for Lloyd Austin to resign—critics say it’s a double standard

President Donald Trump said he supports Pete Hegseth amid the Department of Defense secretary’s latest controversy involving using the messaging app Signal.

“He’s doing a great job,” Trump told reporters at the White House, according to a pool report. The president called the latest revelation “fake news” after The New York Times reported that Hegseth shared military attack plans in yet another Signal group chat–this time with his wife, brother, and others.

The nation’s top military official shared similar details in a Signal chat with several senior-level Trump administration officials, prompting calls for Hegseth’s resignation for putting U.S. national security at risk.

“They just bring up stories,” said Trump, who suggested that the news came from “disgruntled employees.” He added, “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.”

Despite Trump’s backing of Hegseth, a report from NPR indicates that the White House is already moving to replace the defense secretary.

Critics of Trump point out that the president sang a different tune when he called for America’s first Black Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, appointed by President Joe Biden in 2021, to resign after he failed to disclose that he had undergone a surgical operation to treat his prostate cancer. Trump and several Republicans at the time said that Austin’s actions were similarly a threat to the nation’s national defense. Trump said Austin “should be fired immediately for improper professional conduct and dereliction of duty.”

“Trump promised to bring the most qualified to the helm of the American military — instead, he’s appointed a rudderless degenerate to replace a four-star general whom he called a ‘DEI hire.’ It’d be funny if it wasn’t so damned scary,” said Markus Batchelor, political director at People For the American Way.

Batchelor told theGrio, “Less than 100 days in office, and the dangerous incompetence of Pete Hegseth is blatantly clear to everyone but Donald Trump. Former friends in the White House, the Pentagon, and on the Hill are ready to throw him out while the president plays bodyguard to his Fox News friend.”

U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told theGrio, “Secretary Lloyd Austin, a four-star general, and Pete Hegseth, an incompetent and unqualified Fox News host, are not the same.”

“It is appalling but not surprising that the same Republicans who called for Secretary Austin to resign after a medical procedure are dismissing Pete Hegseth’s repeated national security failures,” said Kamlager-Dove. She added, “Republicans prioritize mediocrity over competency, and it shows. For the safety of the nearly 350 million people who call the U.S. home, Pete Hegseth must be fired—immediately.”

Jamarr Brown, executive director at Color of Change PAC, said, “Pete Hegseth’s exposure of sensitive national security information through an encrypted chat app is another example of what happens when loyalty to Trump outweighs qualification and accountability.” He told theGrio, “Hegseth has shown a shocking lack of discernment in how he uses technology, and his incompetence makes us all less safe.”

He continued, “His short tenure has already revealed just how unfit he is to serve. And yet, Trump defends him, not because he’s qualified, but because he’s loyal. Loyalty to Trump now supercedes loyalty to the American people and to our national security interests.”

So far, at least one Republican in Congress has called for Pete Hegseth to resign: U.S. Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska. Bacon said Hegseth’s use of sensitive information on a nonsecure messaging app had exposed him as an “amateur.” He told Politico he had “concerns” about Hegseth serving as Defense secretary from the “get-go.”

“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,” said the Republican congressman.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., who also sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told theGrio, “Republicans were so eager to come for Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, but are now completely silent when Pete Hegseth irresponsibly handles classified information and puts our brave service members in harm’s way.”

The congresswoman added, “More of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle should be willing to call this out for what it is: recklessness.”