Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) called on Wednesday for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to resign after The Atlantic revealed texts he sent on the Signal group chat used to lay out plans for attacks against the Houthis in Yemen.
In the texts, Hegseth laid out specifications on the attack, including when fighter jets would take off, drone strikes would drop over the region and when the attack would be complete.
“The Signal incident is what happens when you have the most unqualified Secretary of Defense we've ever seen,” Kelly said on X. “We're lucky it didn't cost any servicemembers their lives, but for the safety of our military and our country, Secretary Hegseth needs to resign.”
Gallego pointed specifically to the information shared over an unsecure app, which if it had been intercepted could have been used to alert the Houthis and other adversaries.
“This could have gotten our men and women killed! Strike times, when planes are taking off, what weapons are being used all shared in unsafe manner,” Gallego wrote. “@SecDef needs to resign. The incompetence and cover up is embarrassing.”
Both Kelly and Gallego are military veterans and represent a key swing state.
Administration officials on Tuesday maintained that no war plans or classified information was shared in the texts. Among those who made that claim were President Trump, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
The comments come a day after Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called for Hegseth and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz to resign.
The attack in Yemen was carried out on March 15.
