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Trump blasts ‘witch hunt’ as Yemen chat scandal mounts

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WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump on Wednesday dismissed a scandal over leaked plans for Yemen air strikes as a « witch hunt » and defended his embattled Pentagon chief amid
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday dismissed a scandal over leaked plans for Yemen air strikes as a “witch hunt” and defended his embattled Pentagon chief amid calls by Democrats for him to quit.
Republican Trump lashed out after the Atlantic Magazine published the transcript of messages accidentally shared with its editor in a chat group of senior US officials on Signal, a commercially available messaging app.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealed details in the chat including the times of strikes on Iran-backed Huthi rebels and the type of aircraft, missiles and drones used, before the attacks actually happened, the Atlantic said.
“Hegseth is doing a great job, he had nothing to do with this,” Trump said when asked by AFP in the Oval Office whether Hegseth should consider his position over the scandal.
“How do you bring Hegseth into this? Look, look it’s all a witch hunt,” added Trump, who was taking questions after announcing new tariffs on foreign-made cars.
Trump repeated his insistence that no classified information was shared in the breach, and added that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz “took responsibility” for the error.
It was Waltz who mistakenly added journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to the chat, sparking what has been dubbed “Signalgate” in the biggest scandal since Trump returned to power in January.

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