A media report indicated that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took his wife, a producer at Fox News, to "sensitive meetings" with foreign officials. The American newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, reported on Friday that the Secretary brought his wife, Jennifer Hegseth, to at least two meetings with foreign military officials, citing several people who attended or were aware of these meetings.
The newspaper explained that one of the meetings was with British Defense Minister John Healy at the Pentagon on March 6, where discussions included the U.S. decision to halt intelligence support for Ukraine amid its conflict with Russia. The second meeting took place last February at NATO headquarters in Brussels, which gathered officials from several countries to discuss support for Kyiv.
The Wall Street Journal added that "some foreign attendees at the meetings did not know who Jennifer Hegseth was."
The report comes amid the consequences of a "sensitive" conversation leak on the Signal platform involving several top U.S. officials, after the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic was mistakenly included.
On Monday, the White House stated that senior officials in President Donald Trump’s administration accidentally revealed military plans in a messaging group that included a journalist shortly before a U.S. attack on Yemen aimed at targeting the Iran-aligned Houthi group.
The journalist involved was Jeffery Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, who reported that he was "unexpectedly invited on March 13 to a secured messaging group on the Signal app called 'The Small Houthi Group.'"
Following the incident, the U.S. administration faced calls to dismiss Hegseth, yet it continues to support him, despite Trump stating this week his desire to open an investigation into the leak.