Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth‘s affinity for Signal group chats with former Fox News producers is worse than we thought.
Hegseth, who faced calls to resign after a report revealed he texted military strike details in a Signal chat that included his former Fox News producer wife, Jennifer Rauchet, was accused Wednesday of having a third chat on the app that included his spouse.
Sources told The Washington Post that the latest chat also included Hegseth’s senior adviser and spokesman, Sean Parnell, as well as Tami Radabaugh, a former Fox News producer who is a close friend of Rauchet’s.
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What was discussed in the third chat is unknown, the Post reported, and it is not clear if that chat remains active or not. Still, the inclusion of Radabaugh is likely to raise eyebrows at the Pentagon, which has warned Signal is susceptible to hacking and should not be used outright, even to discuss matters that are not classified.
Radabaugh, 51, is a mother of two who was sworn in as Hegseth’s deputy assistant for public affairs on day one of MAGA 2.0. She remained largely out of view amid Hegseth’s initial string of Signal missteps. Still, her name appeared in reports last week as the adviser who suggested that Hegseth retrofit a room in the Pentagon into a makeup studio to help prepare him for his television appearances.
A source told the Post that Rauchet has had an outsized influence in shaping her husband’s tenure as defense secretary, despite not having an official role at the DOD. That has reportedly included her weighing in on what media hits he should do. A source said her first directive came as early as his first day on the job—when she asked DOD staff to compile his initial remarks to reporters and share them on social.
“We would always hear that she was saying what kind of videos he should be doing, and what kind of statements he should be doing, and how the press should be handled,” a source at the DOD told the Post.
Radabaugh worked with Hegseth and his wife at Fox News. She was an executive producer for Fox & Friends from 2019 to 2023, overlapping with the time Hegseth was an on-air personality for the hit morning news show. Rauchet, 40, served as an executive producer for Fox & Friends from 2006 to 2017, then transitioned to executive producer of Watters World for a year, and then became vice president of Fox Nation.
A personal website for Radabaugh is full of photos of her and right-wing political figures. A gallery at its bottom includes her smiling next to Donald Trump in the Oval Office, a selfie with Hegseth and Rauchet, and another of her smiling next to Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw.
The DOD official also participated in Fab Over 40, a competition and fundraising campaign that raises money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. She placed 26th in her group, according to her page. Her bio for the completion read, “God’s daughter who is blessed with a loving heart full of gratitude for my faith, family, fabulous career, fun travel, and fitness.”
Radabaugh, who ran her own media company for a year and a half after leaving Fox, which she said on LinkedIn was “founded on faith,” was an avid MAGA poster after Donald Trump‘s victory last year. Her personal X account is filled with retweets from Elon Musk, Libs of TikTok, and other right-wing personalities.
A New York native, Radabaugh also posted videos in December from Queens amid hysteria over an increase in drone sightings there.
Radabaugh now posts more frequently on her official Department of Defense account, which included her retweeting a post Wednesday that claimed Hegseth has “received 100% NEGATIVE COVERAGE from the FAKE NEWS.”
Radabuagh did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
