"Our journalists report the facts and advance the American public's right to know how their government is operating and their taxpayer dollars are being used," Times attorney David McCraw said in a statement.

"This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs."

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"It's very rich for Hegseth to cite the need to protect sensitive national defense information' after he himself shared sensitive national defense information' last year with his wife over Signal and faced zero consequences.

In 2012, CIA Director David Petraeus resigned his position and was later sentenced in federal court to two years' probation and fined $100,000 for doing the same with his girlfriend," said John Ullyot, the former chief Pentagon spokesperson."