President Donald Trump expressed confidence in his national security team Tuesday while top Republicans and Democrats in Congress demanded answers after an explosive report revealed top Trump administration officials discussing sensitive information about U.S. war plans in a Signal group chat with a journalist present.
The stunning security breach was revealed by the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg in a first-hand account detailing how Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, mistakenly invited him into a chat on the app Signal that included 18 administration officials including Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Unaware the reporter was in the chat, the Trump officials plotted U.S. airstrikes on Iran-backed Houthi sites in Yemen that took place March 15. The conversations culminated with Hegseth, hours before the airstrikes, sharing secret plans ‒ including targets and attack sequencing ‒ in the chat.
Republicans and Democrats have said the Signal leak – by federal officials using the publicly available encrypted messaging app – raises alarming questions about the potential mishandling of national security information, which federal law dictates should only be shared through the government’s own approved secure platforms.
The White House’s National Security Council is investigating the incident, Gabbard told senators on Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader John Thune also confirmed to reporters that he expected the committee that oversees the Pentagon would look into the Trump administration’s use of Signal.
Top House Democrat calls for Trump to fire Hegseth
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., sent a letter to President Donald Trump Tuesday urging him to “immediately” fire Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.“The so-called Secretary of Defense recklessly and casually disclosed highly sensitive war plans—including the timing of a pending attack, possible strike targets and the weapons to be used—during an unclassified national security group chat that inexplicably included a reporter,” Jeffries wrote in the letter. “His behavior shocks the conscience, risked American lives and likely violated the law.”- Riley Beggin