(NewsNation) — Top officials from the Trump administration faced criticism — and calls to resign — after a journalist gained access to a group chat featuring plans for an attack against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and national security adviser Mike Waltz should resign.
“When the stakes are this high, incompetence is not an option,” Warner said on social media Tuesday.
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In his opening remarks during Tuesday’s hearing, Warner said Hegseth and Waltz did not “conduct hygiene 101.”
Not realizing that Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, had gained access to the chat was “sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior,” Warner said.
“If this was the case of a military officer or an intelligence officer and they had this kind of behavior, they would be fired,” Warner said.
At the hearing, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard would not say if she was part of the chat, which was hosted on the messaging app Signal, but maintained that “no classified” information was discussed. The incident is under review by the National Security Council, Gabbard said.
What is Signal, the chat app used by US officials to share attack plans?
CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who said he was included in the chat, said the “use of Signal is permissible.”
Asked by Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., about whether the chat included a conversation about weapons packages or timings, Ratcliffe answered, “Not that I’m aware of.”
“You need to do better. You need to do better,” Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said, addressing Ratcliffe.
In an article he wrote for the Atlantic, Goldberg said the plans discussed over Signal “included precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing.”
Hegseth maintained Monday that “nobody was texting war plans” and called Goldberg “a deceitful and highly discredited, so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again,” NewsNation partner The Hill reported.
NewsNation’s Kevin Bohn and The Hill contributed to this report.
This story is developing. Refresh for updates.
