'Don’t bring that up again': Trump snaps at reporter over Hegseth leak scandal question calls it a 'wasted story'

US President Donald Trump brushed off questions about an investigation into Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the encrypted messaging app Signal to discuss military operations, calling it a “wasted story.”

The Pentagon’s Inspector General confirmed on Thursday that it had launched an inquiry into whether Hegseth and other Department of Defense (DoD) officials violated policy by using an unauthorised app to share sensitive information.

Aboard Air Force One, a reporter asked Trump if he had any comments on the investigation. “On Pete Hegseth and this IG investigation, do you want to weigh in on that?” the reporter asked, in a clip later shared on X.

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“What — what is it?” Trump responded. “There’s an IG investigation into the secretary of Defense’s use of the Signal app,” the reporter clarified.

Trump, appearing irritated, dismissed the question. “Oh, I don’t — you’re bringing that up again? Don’t bring that up again. Your editors probably — that’s such a wasted story. So what else?” he said.

Probe into Hegseth’s Signal messages

The Pentagon’s Inspector General is examining whether Hegseth’s use of Signal to discuss USmilitary airstrikes in Yemen on 15 March breached security policies. A memo from acting Inspector General Steve Stebbins stated that the investigation aims to assess whether DoD personnel followed procedures when using a commercial messaging app for official business.

The Atlantic had previously published messages showing Hegseth sharing operational details about the attacks against Houthi militants. These messages reportedly included launch times of F-18 fighter jets, bomb drop timings, and naval Tomahawk missile launches—before the operation had even taken place.

The White House and Hegseth have strongly defended the messages, arguing they were merely “team updates” that did not contain classified sources or intelligence methods.

However, the Pentagon’s own classification rules indicate that such details would typically be marked at least at the “secret” level, with some of the real-time updates potentially classified at an even higher level. One of Hegseth’s messages even included the phrase “clean on OPSEC” (operational security), suggesting he was aware of the sensitivity of the information being shared.

(With inputs from agencies)