White House denies report it is searching for new defense secretary

The White House on Monday denied a report that it has begun searching for a new defense secretary after Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth reportedly shared details of a U.S. attack on Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on a commercial messaging app.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the National Public Radio story on the search was not true.

"As the President said this morning, he stands strongly behind ?@SecDef," she wrote on X. — Reuters