Top Senate Democrats tore into the Directors of National Intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency during a Tuesday hearing on global security threats, demanding answers after a bombshell report found they used an unsecured messaging app to plan a bombing in Yemen — possibly in violation of the law.

Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard refused to answer several questions from Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA), including whether she participated in “the group chat with the Secretary of Defense and other Trump senior officials discussing the Yemen war plans.”

“Senator,” Gabbard replied, “I don’t want to get into the specifics,” a statement she made at least three times before the frustrated Vice Chair then asked: “Is this, is it because it’s all classified?”

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Gabbard would only say that the incident “is currently under review by the National Security Council.”

“Because it’s all classified?” Warner pressed. “If it’s not classified, share the texts now. Is it classified or non-classified?”

Tulsi Gabbard refuses to answer Warner’s questions about the Signal group chat pic.twitter.com/vMLfszfFMN

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 25, 2025

Gabbard ultimately told Warner that “there was no classified materials that was shared in that Signal chat.”

He immediately replied, “If there was no classified material, share it with the committee.”

“You can’t have it both ways. These are important jobs. This is our national security,” Warner said, as Gabbard remained silent and expressionless.

But several Senators appeared to be unconvinced or uncomfortable with her claim of no classified information in the Signal chat.

U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME) told Gabbard that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth “put into this group text a detailed operation plan, including targets, the weapons we were going to be using, attack sequences and timing—and yet you’ve testified that nothing in that text, in that chain was classified.”

“Wouldn’t that be classified? What if that had been made public that morning before the attack took place?” he asked.

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“Senator,” Gabbard replied, “I can attest to the fact that there were no classified or intelligence equities that were included in that chat group at any time,” she insisted.

“So the attack sequencing and timing and weapons and targets you don’t consider should have been classified?” King asked.

“I defer to the to Secretary of Defense and the National Security Council on that question,” Gabbard responded.

“Well,” King, appearing somewhat dumbfounded, reminded Gabbard, “you’re the head of the intelligence community and you’re supposed to know about classifications.”

“So your testimony very clearly today is that nothing was in that set of texts that were classified,” King continued, noting that “if that’s the case, please release that whole text stream so that the public can have a a view of what actually transpired on this on this discussion.”

“It’s hard for me to believe that targets and timing and weapons would not have been classified,” he concluded.

Angus King doesn’t buy Gabbard’s testimony that war plans ahead of military strikes isn’t actually classified information pic.twitter.com/wxywXSkPhc

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 25, 2025

U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) further pressed Gabbard on what Senator King had seemed to suggest might be potentially classified information.

“In the Signal chain, was there any mention of a target in Yemen?” he asked.

“I don’t remember mention of specific targets,” Gabbard replied.

“Any generic target?” Senator Kelly asked.

Gabbard, pausing, then replied, “I believe there was discussion around ‘targets,’ in general,” she said.

Earlier in the hearing, Vice Chair Warner had blasted the Trump national security officials who were using Signal, the unsecured messaging app, to map out the Yemen bombing.

“There’s plenty of declassified information that shows that our adversaries, China and Russia are trying to break in to encrypted systems like Signal,” the Vice Chair said. “I can just say this, if this was the case of the military officer or an intelligence officer, and they had this kind of behavior, they would be fired.”

“I think this is one more example of the kind of sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior, particularly towards classified information, that this is not a one off or a first time error,” he lamented.

Warner, with Gabbard and Ratcliffe sitting in front of him: “If this was the case of a military officer or an intelligence officer and they had this kind of behavior, they would be fired.” pic.twitter.com/Rn3AWtZbkq

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 25, 2025

Watch the videos above or at this link.

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After initially claiming ignorance of a bombshell national security breach, President Donald Trump is now dismissing the allegedly potentially criminal use of an unsecured messaging app—and the possible sharing of classified information—by 18 top defense officials, calling it a “non-issue.” He’s also voicing support for his National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, who is at the center of the growing scandal.

“Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” the Commander-in-Chief told NBC News Senior White House Correspondent Garrett Haake, who reports that the President told him he still has confidence in Waltz.

Trump opted to describe what some national security and legal experts have said is a possibly criminal act that could include all 18 of his top officials, including his Secretary of State, Attorney General, Secretary of Defense, Director of National Intelligence, and White House Chief of Staff, as a mere “glitch.”

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“I asked the President if he were frustrated that the story has gotten so much attention,” Haake reported. “He said no, calling it ‘the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one.'”

On Monday, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg revealed in a bombshell report that he had been inadvertently invited to the group chat, during which the planned bombings in Yemen were deliberated, debated, and mapped out.

The President also attempted to move the focus away from the use of the open-source commercial messaging app Signal, which reportedly would likely have had to be on non-government phones, to the mission’s success.

“The President told me he believes the story is essentially a non-issue, and that Goldberg’s presence on the chat had ‘no impact at all.’ The attacks, he continued, were ‘perfectly successful,'” Haake added.

“When asked what he was told about how Goldberg came to be added to the Signal chat, Trump said, ‘It was one of Michael’s people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there,'” Haake and Megan Lebowitz reported at NBC News.

Waltz, whose account reportedly had sent the Signal invitation Goldberg, reportedly will not resign and will not be fired, Fox News reported earlier on Tuesday.

“A source close to the president told Fox News that Waltz’s job is safe and that he is not on the chopping block,” the right wing website reported. “Fox News is told Waltz has no plans to resign and is sticking to his schedule Tuesday. He will be talking to his Russian counterpart about a Black Sea ceasefire deal and has plans to speak to Trump as usual later Tuesday.”

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U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), according to Deadline, on Monday wrote: “Every single one of the government officials on this text chain have now committed a crime – even if accidentally – that would normally involve a jail sentence. We can’t trust anyone in this dangerous administration to keep Americans safe.”

But on Monday evening, Politico had reported that Waltz’s future was “in doubt.”

“Nothing is decided yet, and White House officials cautioned that President Donald Trump would ultimately make the decision over the next day or two as he watches coverage of the embarrassing episode,” Politico reported.

White House staffers were reportedly on multiple text threads discussing what should happen to Waltz.

“Half of them saying he’s never going to survive or shouldn’t survive,” said one official.

“A person close to the White House was even more blunt: ‘Everyone in the White House can agree on one thing: Mike Waltz is a f—— idiot.'”

U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican of Nebraska, told CNN: “This is a gross error, and it’s intentional. They intentionally put highly classified information on an unclassified device. I would have lost my security clearance in the Air Force for this and for a lot less.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

GOP Rep. Don Bacon on Trump team’s Yemen group chat: “I will guarantee you, 99.99% with confidence, Russia and China are monitoring those two phones. So I just think it’s a security violation, and there’s no doubt that Russia and China saw this stuff within hours of the attacks… pic.twitter.com/UFnGPsLd51

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 25, 2025

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President Donald Trump’s claim that he was unaware of a cabinet-level breach of classified information—an incident reportedly involving up to 18 top national security officials discussing sensitive details of a planned military strike—appears to have backfired, raising questions about his knowledge of the actions of his top officials, and, as Commander-in-Chief, his knowledge of U.S. national security and military operations.

The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, revealed Monday afternoon that he inadvertently had been included in the 18-person group chat on the unclassified messaging app Signal. Experts say those discussions should never have been held over the app, but rather inside a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or inside multiple SCIFs.

On Monday afternoon at a press conference, a reporter asked the Commander-in-Chief for his reaction to the story in The Atlantic.

“I don’t know anything about it,” was Trump’s immediate response. His next response was to attack the media outlet.

“I’m not a big fan of The Atlantic, it’s, to me it’s a magazine that’s going out of business,” the President declared. “I think it’s not much of a magazine, but I know nothing about it.”

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He then asked the reporter to explain to him what had been reported in The Atlantic.

“You’re saying that they had what?” “Having to do with what?” he asked twice. “What were they talking about?”

After the reporter gave him more information, Trump, seemingly still not understanding all the details, declared that the leak “couldn’t have been very effective because the attack was very effective, I can tell you that.”

He again denied any knowledge of the leak.

“I don’t know anything about it,” Trump repeated. “You, you’re telling me about it for the first time.”

The White House has acknowledged the leak occurred. Axios called it a “mind-boggling security breach.” The Washington Post reported that “the disclosure raises questions about how the administration has discussed classified issues and whether anyone will be disciplined.”

“As the bombing campaign moved ahead, Hegseth’s [Signal] account shared details that Goldberg said he believed could put at risk the safety of U.S. troops or intelligence officials, especially those deployed in the Middle East,” the Post reported. “Those details, the Atlantic article says, allegedly included the specific weapons to be used and in which sequence the Houthi targets would be hit.”

Military and national security experts are stunned — not only that this massive leak occurred, but that the President was not informed until a reporter asked him about it on Monday.

“If the President is telling the truth and no one’s briefed him about this yet, that’s another story in itself. In any other administration, CoS would have been in the Oval within nanoseconds of learning about something like this, wrote The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols via social media, referring to the White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. Nichols is a retired U.S. Naval War College professor who is an expert on national security, international affairs, Russia, and nuclear weapons.

“Heads need to roll for this. They have broken laws and endangered the lives of our service members with this idiocy,” commented Army veteran of 22 years, Fred Wellman, a graduate of West Point and the Harvard Kennedy School.

Journalist Wajahat Ali wrote, “What’s worse is that he HAS no idea, allegedly, about the story, which makes it even worse and more terrifying. Like, bro, why don’t you know?”

“One wild thing about Trump,” observed journalist Isaac Saul, “is that he is notoriously insulated from certain information streams by his team. Absolutely believable that he went out to the podium having not been informed of this massive story bc the people who brief him on info were culpable in the leaks.”

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“Here’s some insight,” offered Sophia Kinzinger, a former press secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “The White House has an entire department, staffed by military professionals, dedicated to facilitating secure communications. They travel with staff, provide devices, and set up SCIFs (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities) whenever and wherever needed, operating 24/7. There is absolutely no excuse for mishandling classified information, especially for someone leading the National Security Council at the White House. Their actions clearly demonstrate a lack of qualification for such a critical role. we deserve better!”

U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) added: “If it’s true that the President of the United States had no idea that his war cabinet and VP were discussing war plans on a Signal chat that included a journalist, that is astounding ignorance and profound incompetence.”

Derek Martin, who conducted supply chain counterintelligence at the National Security Agency (NSA), asked: “If Trump doesn’t know about a major incident involving his VP, Chief of Staff, NatSec Advisor, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Director of National Intelligence, and CIA Director, then who exactly is running the government?”

U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), according to Deadline, wrote: “Every single one of the government officials on this text chain have now committed a crime – even if accidentally – that would normally involve a jail sentence. We can’t trust anyone in this dangerous administration to keep Americans safe.”

In his report at The Atlantic, Goldberg noted that “coordinating a national-security-related action over Signal, may have violated several provisions of the Espionage Act, which governs the handling of ‘national defense’ information, according to several national-security lawyers interviewed by my colleague Shane Harris for this story.”

Goldberg also explained that he chose to not publish all of the texts, noting that, “if [some] had been read by an adversary of the United States, [they] could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East, Central Command’s area of responsibility. What I will say, in order to illustrate the shocking recklessness of this Signal conversation, is that the Hegseth post contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

Trump on report that cabinet officials were discussing sensitive materials on Signal: I don’t know anything about it.. You’re telling me about it for the first time pic.twitter.com/13LoxXhh9K

— Acyn (@Acyn) March 24, 2025

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