Democrat spectacularly tears into Tulsi Gabbard for conflict plans textual content leak: Live updates

Sarah Ewall-Wice, Senior U.S. Political Reporter:

Senator Mark Warner asked DNI Tulsi Gabbard if she participated in the group chat.

She declines to answer to which Warner pressed if she was ‘TG’ in the group chat, but she continued to push back.

‘You refuse to acknowledge you were on this chat?’ the ranking member on the Senate Intelligence Committee asked.

She said it was currently ‘under review’ as Warner pressed whether it was classified for not.

When Warner asked CIA Director John Ratcliffe if he was in the group chat, he did answer.

‘I was’ he said, but he tried to expand on it.

He said Signal was loaded onto his commuter at the CIA and it is ‘permissible to use’ for worker purposes provided the decisions made were also noted through recorded channels.

He argued his communications were ‘entirely permissible and lawful.’

After he offered a response, Gabbard also insisted there was no classified material shared on Signal.

‘There was no classified materials shared,’ she declared.

Warner pushed back that if the material was not classified, they should be able to share the messages with the committee.

The Democratic senator called it not only sloppy but could have endangered American lives.

Sarah Ewall-Wice, Senior U.S. Political Reporter:

Senator Jon Ossoff pressed CIA Director John Ratcliffe over the contents of the Signal chat to discuss airstrikes.

Ossoff: A discussion by senior U.S. officials on the timing and risks of a proposed military campaign and disagreements between the president and the vice president about U.S. plans and intentions would be of obvious interest to foreign intelligence services, would it not?

Ratcliffe: Yes

Ossoff: And they were discussing the timing of sending U.S. air cruise into enemy airspace where they faced an air defense threat, correct?

Ratcliffe: I’m going to senator defer to other principals that you’re referring to about the meaning or contexts of what they were on.

Ossoff: They’re talking about the timing of U.S. airstrikes, correct?

Ratcliffe: Yes.

Ossoff: And therefore the timing of sending U.S. aircrews into hostile airspace?

Ratcliffe: Yes.

Ossoff: And therefore the time period during which enemy air defense could target U.S. aircrews flying in the airspace, correct?

Ratcliffe: I don’t know that.

Ossoff: You do know that.

Moments later, Ossoff asked Ratecliffe: This was a huge mistake, correct?

Ratcliffe: No.

Ossoff asked if a national political reporter being made privy to sensitive info about military operations against a terrorist organization was not a huge mistake.

After he and Ratcliffe spoke over each other, Ossoff called it an embarrassment, utterly unprofessional and said there has been no apology or recognition of the gravity of the error.

Ossoff noted they will get the full transcript.

By Geoff Earle, Deputy U.S. Political Editor

Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet tore into CIA Director John Ratcliffe during tense testimony at a Senate hearing on global threats – and brought up a new security threat to the growing controversy.

‘Did you know that the President’s Middle East advisor was in Moscow on this thread while you were as Director of the CIA participating in this in this thread? Were you aware of that?’ asked Bennet, after Ratcliffe accused him of mischaracterizing his earlier comments.

‘Are you? Are you aware of that today?’

‘I’m not aware of that today,’ Ratcliffe told him.

‘This incompetence, this disrespect for our intelligence agencies,’ Bennet fumed.

He was referencing Steve Witkoff, who was in Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate over a potential ceasefire in Russia’s war on Ukraine. Witkoff was there on the same day journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvedrtently added to the group chat before a military attack on the Houthis.

Sarah Ewall-Wice, Senior U.S. Political Reporter:

DNI Tulsi Gabbard was pressed by Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.) about the Signal conversation.

Reed: Were you overseas during any parts of these discussions?

Gabbard: Yes senator, I was.

Reed: were you using your private phone or public phone for the signal discussions?

Gabbard: I won’t speak to this because it’s under review by the National Security Council. Once that review is complete, I’m sure we’ll share the results with the committee.

Reed: What is under review? It’s a very simple question. Your private phone or officially issued phone? What could be under review?

Gabbard: National Security Council is reviewing all aspects of who this came to be, how the journalist was inadvertently added to the group chat, and what occurred within that chat across the board.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio didn’t acknowledge questions from the press on his participation in a Signal chat about plans to bomb Houthis in Yemen.

Rubio held a photo op at the State Department with with the Foreign Relations Ministers of Lithuania, Estonia, and Lativa.

As he left the photo op, reporters asked him about the chat, which contained a journalist from the Atlantic. Rubio kept walking out of the room and didn’t answer.

Veteran Fox News analyst Brit Hume had some choice words for his former colleague Pete Hegseth, who denounced journalist Jeffrey Goldberg who was accidentally added to a Signal chat group of administration officials.

Sarah Ewall-Wice, Senior U.S. Political Reporter:

Senator Mark Kelly is pressing national security officials on the content of the signal chat.

He asked if there was any mention fo 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 asked about 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,’ she added.

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.

‘The deliberation as to whether or not we should launch a strike on another country, would you consider that classified information, Ms. Gabbard?’ Kelly asked a little later.

‘The information was not classified,’ she responded.

‘I’m not talking about this,’ Kelley said. ‘I’m talking about deliberation from principals as to whether or not we should launch a strike on another country. Would you consider that classified information? I’m not talking about what happened this week.’

‘There are other factors that would go into determining that classification,’ she said.

When asked the same question, Ratcliffe had a different response.

‘Pre-decisional strike considerations should be conducted through classified channels,’ Ratcliffe said.

By Nikki Schwab, Chief Campaign Correspondent at the White House

President Donald Trump had a surprising reaction to his administration’s biggest scandal to-date.

On Monday evening, Trump reshared on his Truth Social network a post from DOGE leader Elon Musk mocking The Atlantic.

Earlier Monday, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg revealed that he had accidentally been added to a Signal group chat alongside top members of the administration who were detailing how they planned to attack the Iran-backed Houthis earlier this month.

‘Best place to hide a dead body is page 2 of The Atlantic magazine, because no one ever goes there,’ Musk had typed.

Musk also shared a post from the satirical Babylon Bee headlined: ‘4D Chess: Genius Trump Leaks War Plans To ‘The Atlantic’ Where No One Will Ever See Them.’

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

FBI Director Kash Patel circulated an internal memo making clear that a recent report on plans to gut a Justice Department agency are ‘entirely false.’

Patel, who is also currently acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), urged his employees to only listen to his directives, according to a copy of the memo obtained by DailyMail.com.

He said the FBI and ATF are in a ‘new era’ of accountability and transparency.

CNN cited three sources in an article last week who claimed they were briefed on plans to remove as many as 1,000 agents from the ATF, reducing the workforce by more than one-third.

‘The fake news will NEVER be responsible for operational command authority over the ATF, we are,’ Patel insisted in a memo sent to ATF employees on Monday.

‘The brave men and women of the ATF who courageously dedicate themselves to protecting the American public will not have their security jeopardized by the media’s disinformation campaigns.’

Sarah Ewall-Wice, Senior U.S. Political Reporter:

Senator Martin Heinrich pressed Ratcliffe about Signal being used.

‘Who determined that the content was not classified?’ the senator asked.

Ratcliffe said to his knowledge there was no classified material.

Heinrich noted the name of an active CIA official was redacted in The Atlantic report and asked if there was a declassification after the fact?

Ratcliffe insisted Signal is permissible to use. He also said that the person whose name he offered up for coordination in the chat was not classified.

Ratcliffe also said he was ‘not aware’ of the Signal chat including information about a weapons package, targets or timing in response to a specific question from the senator.

Gabbard said same answer and referred Heinrich to the Department of Defense.

Sarah Ewall-Wice, Senior U.S. Political Reporter:

Senator Ron Wyden called for the resignation of the NSA and defense secretary after the war plans were shared on Signal.

During his questioning, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and DNI Tulsi Gabbard both said they have not participated in any group chat with classified information.

Neither object to an audit to ensure that was not the case. Ratcliffe said he would do what the National Security Council deemed appropriate.

Wyden also asked if FBI Director Kash Patel had participated in any chats about national security on unclassified phones of administration officials.

‘Not that I can recall,’ he responded.

Sarah Ewall-Wice, Senior U.S. Political Reporter:

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard delivered an opening statement as the top national security officials from the Trump administration testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on global threats.

‘China is our most capable strategic competitor,’ Gabbard said.

The DNI said the country ‘seeks to position itself as a leading power on the world stage, economically, technologically and militarily.’

Gabbard noted China’s most serious challenge is its slowing economy.

Gabbard also noted that Russia’s capabilities make it a ‘formidable competitor’ because of its ‘nuclear and conventional military capabilities, along with its demonstrated economic and military resilience.’

She also discussed how Iran continues to seek influence in the Middle East. She said the U.S. assesses that the country is not building a nuclear weapon and its leader has not authorized the nuclear weapons program.

‘Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons,’ she noted.

Gabbard added that since 2022, China, Russia, Iran and North Korea have grown closer.

She is joined at the hearing by FBI director Kash Patel, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and others.

His support comes amid calls for the national security adviser to step down, with one official calling him a ‘f***ing idiot.’ Waltz started the text chain to discuss the plans to bomb the Houthis in Yemen and added The Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.

‘Everyone in the White House can agree on one thing: Mike Waltz is a f***ing idiot,’ the source, identified as a ‘person close to the White House’, bluntly told Politico.

Trump, however, told NBC News: ‘Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man.’

White House insiders have vented their anger at National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, with one reportedly calling him a ‘f***ing idiot’ after it emerged that he added a prominent journalist to a secret group chat revealing highly sensitive war plans.

‘Everyone in the White House can agree on one thing: Mike Waltz is a f***ing idiot,’ the source, identified as a ‘person close to the White House’, bluntly told Politico.

The Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg revealed yesterday that he was invited by Waltz to join a chat on the encrypted app Signal entitled ‘Houthi PC small group.’

Karoline Leavitt argued ‘no classified material’ was posted in the Signal app group that contained Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.

‘No “war plans” were discussed’ and ‘No classified material was sent to the thread,’ she wrote on X.

She also said the White House counsel’s office has ‘provided guidance on a number of different platforms’ for staff to use to communicate.

The White House is dealing with the fallout of Goldberg’s revelation he was part of Signal group where National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and others discussed plans to bomb the Houthis in Yemen.

Clinton expressed her shock after Atlantic magazine editor Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally included in a group chat with the Donald Trump’s entire defense team strategizing about a military attack on Yemen.

‘You have got to be kidding me,’ the Former Secretary of State posted on X, alongside the large eyes emoji.