


“Daily Show” correspondent Ronny Chieng on Wednesday ripped Pete Hegseth for claiming Trump officials didn’t text “war plans” in a Signal group chat, one the defense secretary used to share when U.S. bombs would “DEFINITELY DROP” in Yemen.
“This is Pete Hegseth, maybe he was talking about Jagerbombs,” joked Chieng in a nod to allegations that the former Fox News host excessively consumed alcohol on the job.
On Wednesday, Hegseth downplayed new reporting from The Atlantic revealing that he texted a timeline to the group chat detailing when U.S. strikes would hit Houthi targets in the country.
Hegseth slammed the publication on X, formerly Twitter, for releasing what he referred to as “so-called ‘war plans.’”
“So I think it’s a war plan, but what the hell do I know, I’ve never seen one before because no one’s ever been dumb enough to put one in a fucking group chat with a journalist,” Chieng quipped.
He then turned to clips of several Republicans claiming that the messages in the group chat weren’t “war plans,” instead describing them as “an outline of what is about to happen” and a “private conversation.”
Chieng brought in “Daily Show” correspondent Michael Kosta for his take on the GOP’s “stupid” argument.
“It’s not a war plan because I didn’t say something specific, like what type of plane they’re using, you have no idea that it’s an F-18,” Kosta said.
“Yeah, you just said that it’s an F-18,” Chieng noted.
“Yeah, well, F-18 can mean anything. It could be a bingo number or a parking spot. F-18 could be Pete Hegseth’s search on a dating app,” Kosta replied.
Check out more of Chieng’s Wednesday monologue below.