Democrats are livid with how the Trump administration has handled the leaked Signal chat on Yemen war plans and have accused top officials of lying to lawmakers and the American people.
Trump national security officials have insisted there was no classified information shared in the high level group chat on military strikes after The Atlantic reporter Jeffery Goldberg was accidentally included in the app conversation.
But on Wednesday, The Atlantic published the texts that included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sharing an update on timing of strikes and aircrafts.
After the chat was published, Democrats seized on the content of the texts and slammed Trump officials for claiming it did not include classified information.
They also pointed to the testimony of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and others who went before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday and argued they had lied before the committee.
‘Well, more of the texts have been released and it’s clear: the Trump admin lied in our hearing. It’s time for people to resign,’ wrote Senate Intelligence Committee ranking member Mark Warner (D-Va.) on Wednesday in a post.
‘Well, they lied. Obviously,’ former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg posted on X after the texts were released.
‘Secretary Hegseth needs to resign. If there is zero accountability for this level of incompetence; if there are no repercussions when our top national security leaders are caught lying to the American public, our nation’s credibility is destroyed,’ wrote Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).
Democrats accused the Trump administration of lying about the Signal group chat after The Atlantic released texts from it
In a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday, Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) slammed Gabbard, Ratcliffe and the top Trump officials to their faces for lying to Americans.
‘The idea that this information if it was presented to our committee would not be classified, you all know is a lie,’ he said. ‘That’s ridiculous.’
‘I’ve seen things much less sensitive presented to us with high classification, and to say that it isn’t is a lie to the country,’ he continued.
At the same hearing, ranking member Jim Himes noted that Senator Martin Heinrich asked if the Signal chat included weapons packages, timing or targets the prior day.
When Heinrich had asked about the content of the chat Tuesday before it was released, Ratcliffe also said he was ‘not aware’ of the Signal chat including information about a weapons package, targets or timing.
Gabbard said same answer and referred the New Mexico senator to the Department of Defense.
Himes then read the message from Hegseth detailing the strikes timing that was released Wednesday morning.
He asked the witnesses to reflect on their answers from the previous day.
Gabbard insisted her answer on Wednesday was based on her recollection or ‘lack thereof’ of the details posted.
She also argued she was not directly involved in that part of the Signal chat, basically throwing the defense secretary who sent the information under the bus.
Himes asked if in two weeks she had just forgot it was in the chat.
‘I did not recall the exact details,’ Gabbard pushed back.
A text from Hegseth sent to the Signal group chat that detailed the timing of strikes released by The Atlantic on Wednesday
It came up multiple times throughout Wednesday’s House hearing with Gabbard doubling down as well as noting she was traveling at the time.
Congressman Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) asked Gabbard if she stood by her testimony before the Senate, noting she also told Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) she did not recall the discussion including info on targets and timing.
‘Yes, I stand by that response,’ Gabbard said.
‘Obviously the release of the screenshots that came from that chat group today were a refresher on what happened,’ she added.
‘As I said earlier, I was not involved with that part or that portion of the chat, so it did not come to my recollection yesterday,’ she continued.
Gomez noted that the discussion was only 10 days ago.
‘Something of this magnitude, it’s something you would not forget. It’s something that most people if you’re taking this job so seriously, that you would not forget,’ Gomez said.
‘The “do not recall” doesn’t pass the smell test,’ he argued. ‘It’s unbelievable that that was the case.’
Gabbard was pressed by House Democrats over her testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee the day before after she said she did ‘not recall’ content of the call. She and other witnesses were repeatedly asked if they stood by their previous testimony
It came after Kelly pressed national security officials on the content of the signal chat at the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday. He asked if there was any mention of a target in Yemen.
‘I don’t remember any mention of specific targets,’ Gabbard said. She said she believes there was discussion around targets ‘in general.’
Kelly pressed about whether there was mention of a weapon or weapon system.
‘I don’t recall specific weapon systems being named,’ Gabbard said. ‘I don’t recall specific names of systems of weapons being used.’
Asked the same question, the CIA director agreed.
‘I don’t recall,’ Ratcliffe said.
Kelly asked about timing being mentioned in the group chat.
‘I don’t recall specific timing,’ Gabbard said.
She said she would not get into the details, but she said there was a significant amount of planning and discussion prior and outside of the chat.
However, while Democrats have accused officials of lying about the content of classified material, Republicans in the House hearing repeatedly suggested no classified info was included backing up the Trump administration.
They asked if there were ‘war plans’ or ‘sources and methods’ discussed on the chat. Trump officials insisted there were not.
