Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he and Sen. Jack Reed, the committee’s top Democrat, will request an inspector general investigation into the use of Signal by top national security officials to discuss military plans.
Wicker’s move is notable given the Trump administration’s defiance that no classified information was posted to the Signal chat.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe were questioned before Congress about how a journalist was added to a group chat in which they discussed American military strikes in Yemen.
Democrats called on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who shared in the group chat the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop, to resign over the exposure.
Asked what the consequences for Hegseth should be, Wicker said, “Let’s see.”
He added that the administration—“right up to the president”—should take a conciliatory approach to the episode.
White House Claims Signal Chat Contained No Classified Information
“I would characterize this messaging thread as a policy discussion, a sensitive policy discussion amongst high-level cabinet officials and senior staff,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a briefing Wednesday.
Asked to square how classified information wasn’t shared, considering launch times and weapon systems were included, Leavitt cited a social media post by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that said the information wasn’t classified.
She also assailed The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg—mistakenly added to the thread by the national security adviser—as an “anti-Trump sensationalist reporter.”
“Do you trust the secretary of defense—who was nominated for this role, voted by the United States Senate into this role, who has served in combat, honorably served our nation in uniform—or do you trust Jeffrey Goldberg?” she asked.
Rubio: Signal Leak a ‘Big Mistake,’ But No Harm
“Someone made a big mistake and added a journalist” to the Signal group chat with the most senior Trump officials, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. “Nothing against journalists, but you aren’t supposed to be on that thing.”
Speaking alongside Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness during his tour of the Caribbean, Rubio said he’s been assured by the Pentagon that the group chat’s details about attacking Houthis in Yemen weren’t classified.
“It didn’t put in danger anyone’s life or the mission. There was no intelligence information,” Rubio said. “There was no war plans on there. This was a sort of description of what we could inform our counterparts around the world when the time came to do so.”
Gabbard: Texts Were ‘Candid and Sensitive,’ Not Classified
DNI Tulsi Gabbard acknowledged before the House Intelligence Committee that the texts contained “candid and sensitive” discussions but said again that no classified information was included.
“It was a mistake that a reporter was inadvertently added,” Gabbard said.
National security adviser Mike Waltz has taken responsibility for the addition of The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief to the chat, which also included the defense secretary, the vice president and other top Trump administration officials.
Democrats blasted it as a sloppy mistake that could have put American service members at risk.
Texts released by The Atlantic on Wednesday referred to the timing of strikes and the types of weaponry involved.
