White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed on Monday the latest NPR report claiming that the process to replace United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is already underway.

"This ⁦NPR⁩ story is total FAKE NEWS based on one anonymous source who clearly has no idea what they are talking about. As the [US] President [Donald Trump] said this morning, he stands strongly behind" Hegseth, she said in a post on X.

Hegseth has been facing scrutiny after media reports said that he shared the US military plans in Signal chat groups both with other US officials and his family members.