2 weeks Ago By HuffPost
WASHINGTON ― Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) said Monday that it’s “fair to wonder” if Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been drinking alcohol again given his “reckless” use of Signal, a third-party messaging app, to share highly sensitive military plans with national security officials and separately with members of his family.
“When Secretary Hegseth keeps making reckless mistakes with our national security – like leaking war plans in Signal chats or the chaos we’re seeing at the Pentagon – it’s fair to wonder if he actually stopped drinking like he promised during his confirmation,” Gomez told HuffPost in a statement. “People have legitimate concerns about whether his judgment is compromised.” A Defense Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Before being confirmed, Hegseth faced numerous allegations of excessive drinking , sometimes at work. He vowed as a nominee that he wouldn’t drink if he was confirmed. “I’m not going to have a drink at all,” Hegseth said in December , ahead of his confirmation hearing.
“It’s not hard for me, because it’s not a problem for me.” But Gomez, who is a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, has been raising concerns that Hegseth may be drinking amid his Signal use. He asked the question last month during a heated exchange with top intelligence officials, in response to the bombshell report that Hegseth had used Signal to share war plans with national security officials ― and another attendee accidentally let a journalist into the group chat.
On Monday, the California Democrat raised the prospect again in light of The New York Times reporting Sunday that Hegseth shared nearly identical war plans in another private Signal group chat last month with members of his family, including his wife, his brother, his personal lawyer, and about a dozen others from his inner circle. Gomez and other Democrats on the House intelligence panel last month called on Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to initiate an independent investigation into the Signal chat debacle, specifically raising concerns that the stunning security breach may have compromised intelligence with U.S.
allies. “This chat was reckless and put the lives of our service members at risk,” Gomez and 10 other committee members wrote to Gabbard. “The information discussed would properly be classified under both Department of Defense and Office of the Director of National Intelligence guidelines.
Claims to the contrary defy both the plain language of those classification guides and common sense.” Gabbard, who was among those included in the initial Signal group chat with other administration officials, has given no indication she’ll initiate such a probe..
