On a recent episode of Human Events Daily, Sena Parnell, the assistant to the Secretary of Defense for public affairs and chief Pentagon spokesman, discussed the Signal report and the department’s mission to defend the United States.
Parnell spoke with host Jack Posobiec, where he addressed the report on an incident earlier this year in which information about US military operations in Yemen was discussed in a private Signal chat. He said the findings show that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth did not share classified information.
"The Signal report is out, and it proves what we've known all along: that the Secretary shared no classified information, and he's totally exonerated,” Parnell said.
He noted that the original narrative earlier this year claimed Hegseth had shared classified material and put troops at risk. He then said that the inspector general’s findings show no classified information was disclosed.
“It was a fake news narrative then, and it’s an exposed fake narrative now, and it’s done, it’s over with,” Parnell said.
Posobiec also referenced an Associated Press report that pointed out Hegseth, as Secretary of War, has the authority to declassify documents. Parnell explained that “the secretary is an original classifier, so he can point to a document and say ‘this is unclassified.’”
Parnell added that the media will now try to shift the narrative by claiming Hegseth shared “sensitive” information, which he described as a meaningless term used to imply wrongdoing despite not being an official classification.
During the segment, Parnell also defended the Department of War, renamed from the Department of Defense under the Trump administration, saying it is prioritizing defense of the homeland by targeting drug traffickers.
“The President has a mission. He’s told us that defense of the homeland is a main priority and a main pillar of that mission,” Parnell said, adding that targeting drug traffickers is part of that mission.
