The White House on Monday blasted an NPR report that a search was underway for a new Pentagon chief as "fake news" following new reporting about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the Signal app and criticism from former Pentagon officials.

“This ⁦@NPR⁩ story is total FAKE NEWS based on one anonymous source who clearly has no idea what they are talking about. As the President said this morning, he stands strongly behind ⁦@SecDef⁩,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on social platform X.

The administration’s Rapid Response team also called the piece “wrong” and “fake news” on X.

NPR, citing an anonymous U.S. official,

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