The Latest: Pentagon watchdog finds Hegseth put US personnel at risk with Signal use

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The Pentagon’s watchdog found that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put U.S. personnel and their mission at risk when he used the Signal messaging app to convey sensitive information about a military strike against Houthi militants in Yemen, two people familiar with the findings said Wednesday.

Hegseth, however, has the ability to declassify material and the report did not find he did so improperly, according to one of the people familiar with the report’s findings who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the information. CNN first reported the initial findings.

The review by the Pentagon inspector general’s office was delivered to lawmakers, who were able to review the report in a classified facility at the Capitol. A partially redacted version of the report was expected to be released publicly later this week.

Here's the latest:

The longest government shutdown on record cost Delta Air Lines an estimated $200 million, CEO Ed Bastian said Wednesday in the first disclosure by a U.S. airline regarding the shutdown’s financial impact.

Bastian told investors that refunds “grew significantly” while bookings slowed amid the uncertainty in air travel caused by the 43-day shutdown, contributing to Delta’s loss of about 25 cents per share.

The shutdown led to long delays at major airports and historic flight cancellations as unpaid air traffic controllers missed work, citing additional stress and the need to take on side jobs.

The Federal Aviation Administration eventually issued an emergency order requiring commercial airlines to cancel up to 6% of their domestic flights — a decision that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described as necessary to guarantee safe air travel.

Bastian said Duffy’s decision led to more customers holding off on booking their holiday travel.

▶ Read more about the shutdown’s impact on airlines

The University of Alabama has suspended the publication of two student-run magazines — one primarily focused on Black students and another on women’s issues — citing recent federal guidance against diversity, equity and inclusion programs on college campuses.

The editors of Nineteen Fifty-Six and Alice magazines were informed Monday that the university was stopping the magazines immediately. A university official cited July guidance from Attorney General Pamela Bondi on what the Trump administration considered unlawful discrimination at institutions that receive federal funding, according to one of the editors.

The move comes as college campuses across the United States react to Trump’s push to end DEI practices on college campuses. The university’s decision to shutter the magazines appears based on the fact that the publications had primary target audiences, although neither magazine limited who could work on staff.

▶ Read more about the magazines

The group of more than 30 House members led by Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey and Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans of Virginia are proposing a menu of options for leaders and lawmakers to consider as they deal with the issue of rising health insurance premiums if tax breaks expire at year’s end.

Their plan includes a one-year extension of the enhanced tax credits, with some modifications around the various income levels to qualify, and more significant reforms in a second year, according to a person familiar with the framework and granted anonymity to discuss the emerging proposal. It is expected to be unveiled Thursday.

While the group is not proposing a bill of legislative text, they are pushing for votes in Congress by Dec. 18, ahead of the expiration.

—Lisa Mascaro

Timothy J. Leiweke, who co-founded Oak View Group, was indicted in July for what federal prosecutors alleged was “Orchestrating a conspiracy to rig the bidding process” for a university arena in Austin, Texas.

Leiweke had pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to restrict trade.

He received what Trump called “a full and conditional pardon.”

A statement on his granting of clemency posted on a DOJ website did not include details on why the president was reversing the case brought by a department he now oversees.

The White House also offered no immediate comment on Trump’s move.

The top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees say a Pentagon inspector general report on Hegseth’s use of Signal shows a pattern of recklessness.

The inspector general found that Hegseth endangered U.S. personnel when he used Signal to convey sensitive information about a strike against Yemen’s Houthi militants, two people familiar with the findings told The Associated Press.

Sen. Mark Warner, of Virginia, noted that investigators found that Hegseth had used Signal to discuss official business in other instances as well.

U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, of Connecticut, said it is fortunate the mission was not compromised by Hegseth’s actions.

“Pete Hegseth’s behavior and lack of judgment would be a fireable offense for anyone else in the Department of Defense,” Himes said.

—David Klepper

The Pentagon knew there were survivors after a September attack on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea, but the U.S. military still carried out a follow-up strike. That’s according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss it publicly.

They say the rationale for the second strike was that it was needed to sink the vessel. The Trump administration says all 11 people aboard were killed. One of the people says what remains unclear was who ordered the strikes and whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was involved.

▶ Read more about the second strike

A dozen prior leaders of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — appointed by Republicans and Democrats alike — issued a scathing denunciation of new FDA assertions casting doubt on vaccine safety.

The former officials say the agency’s plans to revamp how lifesaving vaccines for flu, COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases are handled — outlined in an internal FDA memo last week — would “disadvantage the people the FDA exists to protect, including millions of Americans at high risk from serious infections.”

“The proposed new directives are not small adjustments or coherent policy updates. They represent a major shift in the FDA’s understanding of its job,” the officials, former FDA commissioners and acting commissioners, wrote Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Wednesday that the Pentagon inspector general’s review of the Defense secretary’s use of the Signal messaging app affirms the administration’s statements that “no classified information was leaked, and operational security was not compromised.”

The review found that Hegseth has the ability to declassify material and did not find that he did so improperly. But it did find that he put U.S. personnel and their mission at risk when he shared sensitive information about a military strike against Yemen’s Houthi militants, according to two people familiar with its findings.

“President Trump stands by Secretary Hegseth,” Leavitt said in her statement.

Witkoff and Kushner are set to meet Thursday with Ukraine’s lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, in Miami for further Russia-Ukraine peace talks, according to a senior Trump administration official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The talks come as Trump said Witkoff and Kushner came away from their marathon session with Putin this week confident that the Russian leader wants to find an end to the conflict.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hinted at the possibility of further talks with U.S. officials during his nightly address Wednesday.

“Right now the world clearly feels that the possibility of ending the war exists, and it is necessary to support the existing activity in the talks with pressure on Russia. Exactly from such a combination everything depends — constructive diplomacy plus pressure on the aggressor. Both components work towards peace,” Zelenskyy said.

— Aamer Madhani

Trump lamented that the Democratic nominee in Tuesday’s special congressional election “said it’s all about affordability” without going into “specifics.”

Republican Matt Van Epps won the Tennessee district by about 9 percentage points after Trump carried the district in 2024 by more than 20 points. But Trump maintained that Democrat Aftyn Behn “lost by a lot more than they thought.”

Behn sharply criticized economic policies that she said prioritize wealthy people and corporations throughout the campaign.

Trump, speaking at an Oval Office event announcing a cut in federal emissions standards, said that message was a “hoax” perpetuated by “great con people.”

The president was asked if he spoke with GOP leaders in the House about pardoning the Democratic congressman and if it strengthened Cuellar’s reelection prospects.

Trump said, “It didn’t matter” and that Cuellar was targeted for his comments critical of immigration.

“He represents the people on the border and he saw what was happening,” Trump said.

“He would like to end the war — that was their impression,” Trump said Wednesday of special envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner. “Their impression was very strongly that he’d like to make a deal.”

Trump’s comments came a day after Witkoff and Kushner, who is also the president’s son-in-law, met for more than five hours with Putin in Moscow for talks aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war.

The president was asked Wednesday if he would release video of a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-carrying boat in the Caribbean Sea in early September as Hegseth is facing bipartisan scrutiny over the operation.

“I don’t know what they have, but whatever they have we'd certainly release. No problem,” Trump told reporters.

The family of a Colombian man has filed the first formal challenge to U.S. military strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats, arguing that his death was an extrajudicial killing.

The petition from the family of Alejandro Carranza says the military bombed his fishing boat on Sept. 15 in violation of human rights conventions. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights received the complaint Tuesday.

Although the Trump administration has said it supports the commission’s work, the U.S. does not recognize the jurisdiction of an international court associated with the commission, making any recommendations nonbinding.

The family’s attorney, Daniel Kovalik, said Carranza’s four children and spouse want to be compensated as their loved one was their primary breadwinner.

▶ Read more about the human rights challenge

The Pentagon says Hegseth was absolved by the inspector general’s investigation into his use of the Signal messaging app to discuss sensitive military information.

“The Inspector General review is a TOTAL exoneration of Secretary Hegseth and proves what we knew all along — no classified information was shared,” Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement. “This matter is resolved, and the case is closed.”

During an Oval Office event announcing a cut in federal emissions standards, Trump gave the leaders of major carmakers a chance to speak.

That included Ford CEO Jim Farley and Antonio Filosa, CEO of Stellantis, who said the new standards will be reconciled with “real customer demand.”

Trump slammed Biden-era standards meant to help combat climate change.

But Trump also used the event to talk up steep tariffs he has imposed on top U.S. trade partners. Some automotive industry leaders have opposed the tariffs, arguing that it has driven up the price of producing vehicles.

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who oversees the Catholic chaplains ministering to the U.S. military, urged service members Wednesday to adhere to the rule of law during its campaign to curtail drug smuggling.

“In the fight against drugs, the end never justifies the means, which must be moral, in accord with the principles of the just war theory, and always respectful of the dignity of each human person,” Broglio said in a statement.

“As the moral principle forbidding the intentional killing of noncombatants is inviolable, it would be an illegal and immoral order to kill deliberately survivors on a vessel who pose no immediate lethal threat to our armed forces,” Broglio said.

His comments come after a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-carrying boat in the Caribbean Sea in early September. On Tuesday, Hegseth defended the action, citing the “fog of war.”

The Border Patrol commander arrived in the New Orleans area Wednesday as federal agents launched their operation.

Bovino was sighted by The Associated Press at a Home Depot parking lot in Kenner, a suburb of New Orleans where Hispanic residents account for about 30% of the municipality’s population.

Bovino, who wore a uniform and was surrounded by agents with their faces covered, has made headlines for leading large-scale, high-profile immigration enforcement campaigns — including the operation in Chicago where federal agents rappelled from a helicopter into a residential apartment complex.

Lindell, a prominent backer of President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, filed the paperwork with the Minnesota campaign board Wednesday.

But Lindell told The Associated Press that it’s “not 100%” sure yet he will run. He said he filed because the person who would run his campaign told him they needed to get things going now so he could hit the ground running.

Lindell said he’ll make his announcement on Dec. 11 at MyPillow headquarters in the Minneapolis suburbs. He noted that he previously said he was 99% sure and added that that hasn’t changed.

Hegseth told Fox News Channel in April that what he shared over Signal was “informal, unclassified coordinations, for media coordinations and other things.”

During a congressional hearing in June, Hegseth was pressed multiple times by lawmakers over whether he shared classified information and if he should face accountability if he did.

Rep. Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat and Marine veteran, asked Hegseth whether he would hold himself accountable if the inspector general found that he placed classified information on Signal.

Hegseth would not directly say, only noting that he serves “at the pleasure of the president.”

The revelations of the administration’s use of Signal sparked intense scrutiny, with Democratic lawmakers and a small number of Republicans saying Hegseth posting the information to the chats before the military jets had reached their targets, potentially put those pilots’ lives at risk.

They said lower-ranking members of the military would have been fired for such a lapse.

The inspector general opened its investigation into Hegseth at the request of the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, and the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island.

Some veterans and military families also raised concerns, citing the strict security protocols they must follow to protect sensitive information.

The U.S. Institute of Peace, initially targeted by an executive order by the president and the Department of Government Efficiency, has a new name on its former headquarters: Donald J. Trump.

The president’s name is now above “The Institute of Peace” on the building.

In March, the president fired the board and the staff was dismissed. The building was handed to the General Services Administration. A federal district court overturned the action in May, but a federal appeals court reversed it weeks later. Employees have been fired twice, and the building is back with the GSA.

It is unclear when the president’s name appeared. Attempts to reach a spokesperson for the former employees were not immediately answered.

In at least two separate Signal chats, Hegseth provided the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop — before the men and women carrying out those attacks on behalf of the United States were airborne.

Hegseth’s use of the app came to light when a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, was inadvertently added to a Signal text chain by then-national security adviser Mike Waltz.

It included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and others, brought together to discuss March 15 military operations against the Iran-backed Houthis.

Hegseth had created another Signal chat with 13 people that included his wife and brother where he shared similar details of the same strike, The Associated Press reported.

The Pentagon’s watchdog found that Hegseth put U.S. personnel and their mission at risk when he used the Signal messaging app to convey sensitive information about a military strike against Houthi militants in Yemen, two people familiar with the findings said Wednesday.

Hegseth, however, has the ability to declassify material and the report did not find he did so improperly, according to one of the people familiar with the report’s findings who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the information. CNN first reported the initial findings.

The review by the Pentagon inspector general’s office was delivered to lawmakers, who were able to review the report in a classified facility at the Capitol.

— Lisa Mascaro

As the immigration enforcement operation launched in the New Orleans area Wednesday, some of the nation’s top immigration officials chimed in on social media.

“We are here arresting criminals who should not be here,” Bovino posted on X. The Border Patrol commander, who has led aggressive operations in Chicago, Los Angeles and Charlotte, North Carolina, described Louisiana’s state and local law enforcement as “excellent partners.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted on X that agents will remove “the worst of the worst” from New Orleans.

The inspector general of the Department of Defense has delivered a report reviewing the defense secretary’s use of a Signal chat in March to discuss pending military strikes in Yemen.

Senators were able to review the report in a classified facility at the Capitol and a partially redacted version of the report was expected to be released publicly later this week.

The report’s findings are not known, but its arrival on Capitol Hill adds to the scrutiny on Hegseth. Another congressional investigation is examining whether an operation in international waters near Venezuela violated military code of conduct by firing on the survivors of an initial strike that destroyed a boat allegedly carrying drugs.

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry is a close Trump ally who has moved to align state policy with the White House’s enforcement agenda.

He said Wednesday that the crackdown will target the “worst of the worst, criminal illegal aliens that have broken the law.”

“It started today and it’s going to run until we get them all off the street,” Landry said during an interview on the Walton & Johnson radio show.

Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino is expected to lead New Orleans enforcement, which aims to arrest 5,000 people.

The plan, to be announced later Wednesday, would ease pressure on automakers to control pollution from gasoline-powered cars and trucks. It would significantly reduce fuel economy requirements through the 2031 model year.

The move would be the latest action by the Trump administration to reverse Biden-era policies that encouraged cleaner-running cars and trucks, including electric vehicles. The Republican administration says the new rules would increase Americans’ access to the full range of gasoline vehicles they need and can afford.

Word about Trump’s impending action comes from several people familiar with the White House plans. They’re not authorized to discuss the matter publicly because the proposal hasn’t been announced.

▶ Read more about weakening vehicle mileage rules

A Louisiana immigrant rights group asked a judge Wednesday to declare the new state law unconstitutional, with critics arguing that the legislation could be used to punish protesters or silence opponents of the Trump administration’s federal immigration crackdown that ramped up Wednesday.

The law took, which took effect in August, expands the crime of obstruction of justice to include anyone who “knowingly” commits “any act intended to hinder, delay, prevent, or otherwise interfere with or thwart” federal immigration enforcement efforts.

In that lawsuit filed in a Louisiana federal court, New Orleans-based nonprofit Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy called the law vague. Out of fear of violating the law, they’ve stopped hosting “Know Your Rights” workshops.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says China is on track to buy millions of tons of American soybeans even though the purchases so far are much lower than promised.

The White House has said China committed to buy 12 million metric tons of soybeans by January and at least 25 million tons per year for each of the next three years.

“They are in a perfect cadence to complete that goal,” Bessent said Wednesday at the DealBook Summit.

But reports from the Agriculture Department show that China has only bought 2.251 million tons of soybeans so far.

Bessent said he thinks China’s immediate purchase commitment of 12 million metric tons should be completed by the end of February. Chinese officials have not confirmed the specific purchase promises.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has accused New Orleans of undermining federal immigration enforcement. The Department of Justice includes New Orleans in a list of 18 cities it considers to be providing sanctuary to immigrants without legal status.

New Orleans officials deny the city’s policies thwart federal immigration enforcement. City police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick has said she considers immigration enforcement to be a civil matter outside her jurisdiction.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are releasing 14 photos and videos of Jeffrey Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, showing empty courtyards, a bedroom and other rooms from his villa.

Congress is pressing the Trump administration to release all of its case files on the sex trafficking investigation into the late financier. Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the oversight panel, said he was releasing the images “to ensure public transparency in our investigation and to help piece together the full picture of Epstein’s horrific crimes.”

The Department of Justice has until mid-December to comply with legislation passed by Congress and signed by Trump to publicly release many of its documents on Epstein.

The crackdown began Wednesday in New Orleans under an operation that a Homeland Security official said would target violent criminals, expanding the Trump administration’s sweeps that have unfolded in other U.S. cities.

The aim of the operation is to capture immigrants who were released after their arrests for crimes such as home invasion, armed robbery and rape, Homeland Security Department Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

She didn’t say how many agents would be deployed under the operation. Louisiana has been preparing for weeks for an immigration crackdown that Republican Gov. Jeff Landry has said he would welcome.

“Sanctuary policies endanger American communities by releasing illegal criminal aliens and forcing DHS law enforcement to risk their lives to remove criminal illegal aliens that should have never been put back on the streets,” McLaughlin said. “

▶ Read more about the immigration crackdown in New Orleans