In addition to the “Houthi PC Small Group” chat on Signal in which Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, was inadvertently added to last month, which included senior officials in the Trump Administration, including U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth who used it to discuss and reveal what appears to have been classified material related to the now ongoing strike campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen.

The New York Times is now reporting that Secretary Hegseth also shared details about the strikes against the Houthis, including flight schedules for F/A-18 “Super Hornets” as well as some of the same details shared in the PC Small Group, in another Signal group chat titled “Defense | Team Huddle” that included his wife Jennifer, a former producer with Fox News who does not work with the Department of Defense but has accompanied Hegseth overseas and in several sensitive meetings with foreign officials, alongside his brother Phil and his personal lawyer Tim Parlatore, both of which work in controversial roles at the Pentagon.

Unlike the other Signal chat created by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz in early March, this chat was created by Hegseth in January before being confirmed as Secretary of Defense and included roughly a dozen personal and professional contacts who he was close to; with it being initial used as a forum for discussing routine administrative or scheduling information. Hegseth is said to have used his personal phone for his chat, not typically using it to discuss sensitive military operations and that it did not include other cabinet-level officials, but did include both Dan Caldwell and Darin Selnick, senior advisors and confidants of Hegseth who were placed on administrative leave and fired last week from the Pentagon, after being accused of “leaking unauthorized information” pending an ongoing investigation by the DoD, yet have since proclaimed their innocence in a public statement on X.

Victoria Coates, former deputy national security advisor under Trump, hopes for a ceasefire in Ukraine. If Russia and Ukraine fail to negotiate in good faith, the US may exit talks. "The administration won't negotiate endlessly," she stressed.

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More from Netanyahu’s statement on a Gaza ceasefire:

Netanyahu: “I insist on not ending this war of revival and resurrection until we ensure that the Gaza Strip no longer poses a threat to Israel. Those in Israel who are irresponsibly calling to end the war and accept Hamas terms of surrender—what are they doing? They’re parroting Hamas propaganda and assisting their psychological warfare against us and the hostage families. They’re not bringing the hostages closer to release; they’re prolonging their captivity.

The terms Hamas is offering aren’t new. They’ve repeated the same surrender demands in every negotiation. What responsible Israeli leader could accept such terms after October 7? I can’t, and I doubt any of you would either.

Some say we should deceive Hamas—promise to stop the war, get the hostages back, and then resume fighting. But they’re saying this publicly, on television, while Hamxs is watching. Do you understand the absurdity? They’re proposing we tell Hamas, ‘We’re lying to you—just go along with it.’

Hamas may be a group of despicable murderers, but they’re not fools. They demand binding international guarantees that would prevent any such deception. And no one—certainly not the United States, nor China, Russia, or any other UN Security Council member—would cooperate with such a scam.”

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam praised the Lebanese Army, especially its Intelligence Directorate, for foiling a rocket attack from the south and arresting those involved. He also commended all security forces for protecting Lebanon and emphasized that only the state has the authority over weapons and decisions of war and peace.

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The Lebanese army say they foiled a rocket launch toward Israel, arresting several suspects in Sidon and seizing rockets and launchers from their apartment.

New footage reportedly shows China’s “6th-generation” J-36 fighter jet.

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Intense U.S. airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen tonight

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Three senior staffers at the Pentagon who were placed on administrative leave before being fired on Friday, following claims of an ongoing investigation into “unauthorized disclosures” at the DoD; Dan Caldwell, a top adviser to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth; Darin Selnick, Pentagon Deputy Chief of Staff; and Colin Carroll, Chief of Staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg; have released a joint-statement tonight:

“We are incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defense ended. Unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door. All three of us served our country honorably in uniform - for two of us, this included deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, based on our collective service, we understand the importance of information security and worked every day to protect it. At this time, we still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of “leaks” to begin with. While this experience has been unconscionable, we remain supportive of the Trump-Vance Administration’s mission to make the Pentagon great again and achieve peace through strength. We hope in the future to support those efforts in different capacities.”

In the past 24 hours, the Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist group claims to have downed 2 U.S. Air Force MQ-9 “Reaper” Surveillance and Attack Drones over Western Yemen. So far at least one of these shoot-downs has been confirmed by U.S. defense officials, though if both are true this would be the 6th MQ-9 downed since March and the 21st downed by the Houthis since October 7, 2023.

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Trump's envoy Keith Kellogg on Ukraine's NATO membership in Fox News interview: "You will not be part of NATO. It's off the table."

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Russian artillery continues to strike frontline positions in Eastern Ukraine, despite President Putin’s announcement of an “Easter Ceasefire” earlier this morning. Reports already indicate hundreds of ceasefire violations by Russian forces across the Kharkiv, Luhansk, and Donetsk Oblasts.

In a surprise announcement from the Kremlin this morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a 30-hour temporary ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine to coincide with Easter, scheduled to last from 18:00 on April 19 until 00:00 on April 21. Citing “humanitarian considerations,” Putin called on Ukraine to honor the ceasefire as well. However, as the ceasefire was set to begin, air-raid sirens were already sounding across multiple Ukrainian cities—raising concerns this could mirror the so-called “Christmas Ceasefire” of 2023, when Russia pledged a pause in hostilities but continued its attacks, later accusing Ukraine of violating the truce.

In a surprise announcement from the Kremlin this morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a 30-hour temporary ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine to coincide with Easter, scheduled to last from 18:00 on April 19 until 00:00 on April 21. Citing “humanitarian considerations,” Putin called on Ukraine to honor the ceasefire as well. However, as the ceasefire was set to begin, air-raid sirens were already sounding across multiple Ukrainian cities—raising concerns this could mirror the so-called “Christmas Ceasefire” of 2023, when Russia pledged a pause in hostilities but continued its attacks, later accusing Ukraine of violating the truce.

All six Russian groups are attacking in 11 directions, Gerasimov stated.

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Zelenskyy on Putin’s Easter “truce”:

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