The Trump administration's self-styled Secretary of War, Pete Hegeseth,

has spent most of the week on defense, facing accusations that he committed war crimes

and that he endangered the lives of U.S. pilots.

At the Pentagon, it seems to be all turmoil all the time.

Next.

This is Washington Week. Good evening and welcome is Washington Week.

Good evening and welcome to Washington Week.

On Thursday, the acting Inspector General of the Department of Defense released his report on SignalGate,

in which top national security leaders discuss secret military information on a commercial messaging app with,

not to put too fine a point on it here, me.

The Inspector General found that Defense Secretary Hegsett's behavior endangered the safety of American pilots

and that he should not have been using a commercial messaging app or his own phone to share secret information about upcoming airstrikes.

In response, Hegseth and his spokesman, Sean Parnell,

denied that the report said what it said. This is what Parnell wrote. The Inspector General

Review is a total exoneration of Secretary Hegeseth and proves what we knew all along. No classified

information was shared. This matter is resolved and the case is closed.

Hex said themselves tweeted, total exoneration case closed. Here is what the Inspector General

actually wrote. The secretary's transmission of non-public operational information over

signal to an unclear journalist, that would be me, and others two to four hours before

plan strikes using his personal cell phone exposed sensitive DOD information. The Secretary's

actions created a risk to operational security that could have resulted in failed U.S. mission

objectives and potential harm to U.S. pilots. Hexeth, Parnell, and other administration

...