Pentagon’s Hegseth sent start time for targeted killing of senior Houthi member into group chat, leaked texts show

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth texted the start time for a planned killing of a Houthi rebel in Yemen on March 15, as well as other details of imminent waves of US airstrikes, according to a screenshot of a text chat released by The Atlantic.

Hegseth has repeatedly denied texting war plans as President Donald Trump’s administration tries to contain the fallout from the revelation that it included The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg in a group chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal with Trump’s most senior national security advisers to coordinate on the start of an offensive in Yemen.

Trump’s administration said yesterday that no classified information was shared in the chat, bewildering Democrats and former US officials, who regard targeting information as some of the most closely held material ahead of a US military campaign.

Goldberg, who had initially declined to publish the chat details, did so earlier today.

Hours later, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz confirmed to the group the killing of the Houthis’ top missile expert.

“We had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and it’s now collapsed,” Waltz wrote.

Reuters could not immediately establish what kind of building was brought down in the US military strike, how many occupants were inside, and how the detail squares with Pentagon statements that there were no known civilian casualties.

Asked about The Atlantic report, the Pentagon does not immediately respond to a request for comment.