Hegseth on Tuesday repeated the defense he used in the wake of a previous report last month about a Signal leak to Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg: “No one’s texting war plans,” he said during a Fox News interview, insisting the chats were used “for media coordination and other things” and blaming internal “leakers” for the damning stories.

Hegseth gave a similar denial Monday when asked about the Sunday New York Times report citing four unnamed sources who said he shared the military plans with his brother, personal lawyer and wife in a second Signal group chat the same day the information was leaked to Goldberg.