Trump national security officials squirm as senators demand answers on ‘sloppy’ Houthi text leak: ‘Not a one-off’

WASHINGTON — Some of President Trump’s national-security officials Tuesday came under heavy political fire at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing where lawmakers grilled them over the now-infamous Houthi text leak.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who were among the 18 officials included in the botched encrypted Signal messaging exchange, were adamant that they did not share classified information on the chat. But they were also coy about whether Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth did.

“Any information that was related from my perspective, or that I observed from the intelligence perspective, was not classified information,” Ratcliffe stressed during questioning over the high-level exchange about US plans for airstrikes on Houthi terrorists — a chat in an unsecure channel that inadvertently included a journalist.

Initially, when Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the intel panel, first began grilling the duo over the Signal fiasco, the spy chiefs took differing approaches to the tough questions.

“Senator, I’m not going to get into the specifics because this is currently under review by the National Security [Council],” Gabbard said before getting cut off repeatedly.

Ratcliffe meanwhile confirmed that he was indeed on the private Signal chat that Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was accidentally added to, a discussion revealing detailed planning of US strikes in Yemen roughly two hours before the bombs started falling March 15.

“One of the first things that happened when I was confirmed as CIA director [is] Signal was loaded onto my computer at the CIA, as it is for most CIA officers,” Ratcliffee said. “One of the things I was briefed on very early, Senator, by the CIA director’s management folks was about the use of Signal as a permissible work use.

“That is a practice that preceded the current administration, to the Biden administration,” he said.

Goldberg claimed he was added to the Signal chat by National Security Adviser Michael Waltz. Ratcliffe declined to confirm that, saying he has “seen conflicting reports about who added” him, while acknowledging it was not appropriate for Goldberg to be on the chat.

“This sloppiness, this incompetence, this disrespect for our intelligence agencies and the personnel who work for them is entirely unacceptable,” fumed Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Col.). “It’s an embarrassment.”

Both Ratcliffe and Gabbard repeatedly stated under oath, “There was no classified material that was shared in that Signal chat” — before later clarifying that they at least hadn’t shared any classified information.

“If it’s not classified, share the texts with the committee,” Warner shot back at one point.

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) grilled the spy bosses over who determined that the material on the Signal chat wasn’t classified. No one gave a clear answer, but both denied that the messages included details about weapons packages, targets or timing.

Goldberg has publicly claimed that the Signal group chat detailed “the war sequencing, the attack sequence, weapons packages, targets, all that sort of things.” The Atlantic editor said he is declining to publicize that information because of national security concerns.

When Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) pressed the officials about how attack sequencing, timing and targeting could not be classified, Gabbard deferred to the Pentagon.

“Well, you’re the head of the intelligence community, and you’re supposed to know about classifications,” King scoffed.

Gabbard later said she didn’t remember targets but believed there “was discussion around targets in general” didn’t recall “specific names of systems or weapons being used” and didn’t recall talk of timing on that chat. Ratcliffe reiterated that.

But both of them also admitted their memory was fuzzy on the issue.

“Obviously, there was a significant amount of planning and internal discussions that had occurred prior to and outside of this Signal chat,” Gabbard told Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.).

FBI Director Kash Patel said he had been briefed on the Signal debacle but declined to state whether the bureau is investigating.

Most of the grilling over the scandal came from Democrats on the panel.

Republicans instead largely focused on the hearing’s intended purpose — global threats against the US.

Sens. Mike Rounds (R-SD) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) said they’d address the text issue during the committee’s closed session with the spy chiefs.

At one point, panel Chairman Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) provided some backup to Gabbard and Ratcliffee, underscoring that neither of them had classification authority over the information shared on the Signal chat because it came from the defense secretary.

Cotton later nudged them to clarify that no classified “intelligence community” information was shared on the chat.

“I think that the national security advisor intended this to be a mechanism for coordinating between senior-level officials but not a substitute for using high-side or classified communications for anything that would be classified,” Ratcliffe explained about the Signal chat.

“And I think that that is exactly what did.”

But Warner declared that the “Signal fiasco is not a one-off” for the Trump administration. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) demanded resignations from Waltz, who is believed to have organized the chat, and Hegseth.

President Trump has stood by Waltz amid the firestorm, telling an NBC reporter Tuesday that his national security adviser “has learned a lesson” and is “a good man.”

The group chat is believed to have included other top brass in the administration such as Vice President JD Vance and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.

“This was not only sloppy, not only violated all procedures, but if this information had gotten out, American lives could have been lost,” Warner seethed. “[If the] Houthis had this information, they could’ve repositioned defensive systems.”

The Virginia Dem rattled off a list of grievances with the Trump administration on intelligence matters such as the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Patel’s firing of top brass at the FBI, employees axed at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and inadvertent Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) firings.

“The signal fiasco is not a one-off. It is, unfortunately, a pattern,” he chided. “

“If this was the case of a military intelligence or an intelligence officer, and they had this kind of behavior, they would be fired,” he added, demanding names for others involved in the texts and denouncing the disclosure of a CIA agent in the chat.