Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Read more
The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee demanded the resignations of senior Trump administration officials who used a Signal thread to discuss a bombing campaign in Yemen and included a journalist in the chat.
During a hearing Tuesday, committee vice chair Mark Warner grilled intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard and slammed national security adviser Mike Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after they failed to conduct “security hygiene 101” without realizing The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was included in the text chain.
“Putting aside for a moment that classified information should never be discussed over an unclassified system, it’s also just mind boggling to me that all these senior folks were on this line and nobody bothered to even check,” Warner said. “Security hygiene 101 — who are all the names? Who are they?”
During the hearing, Warner posted on X that “incompetence is not an option.”
“Pete Hegseth should resign. Mike Waltz should resign,” he wrote.
CIA director John Ratcliffe, right, testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing with Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel on March 25, one day after revelations that a journalist was erroneously added to a Signal thread with administration officials organizing a bombing campaign in Yemen
open image in gallery
CIA director John Ratcliffe, right, testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing with Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel on March 25, one day after revelations that a journalist was erroneously added to a Signal thread with administration officials organizing a bombing campaign in Yemen (Getty Images)
The committee heard testimony from Gabbard as well as CIA director John Ratcliffe, both of whom appeared on the Signal thread.
In his opening remarks, Warner stressed to administration officials that intelligence suggests China and Russia “are trying to break into” encrypted messaging apps such as Signal.
“If this was the case of a military officer or an intelligence officer and they had this kind of behavior, they would be fired,” he added. “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.”
On Monday, The Atlantic published Goldberg’s explosive report detailing his inadvertent front-row seat to planning efforts from Donald Trump’s administration for a bombing campaign targeting Houthis in Yemen earlier this month.
Waltz started a group chat on Signal with Vice President JD Vance, several Cabinet secretaries and other top White House officials, and appeared to accidentally add Goldberg, according to his report.
Earlier this month, Trump announced on social media that he ordered the U.S. military “to launch decisive and powerful” actions against the Yemeni group, which has blocked key shipping lanes and attacked Israeli vessels and other commercial ships in the Red Sea following Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza.
Goldberg revealed that Hegseth texted the group with a plan of action two hours before the bombs fell on March 15.
Democratic Senator Mark Warner, seated next to Republican Senator Tom Cotton, addresses top Trump administration officials during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing
open image in gallery
Democratic Senator Mark Warner, seated next to Republican Senator Tom Cotton, addresses top Trump administration officials during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing (Getty Images)
During Tuesday’s hearing, Gabbard told Warner that the Signal thread didn’t share any classified information but refused to share its contents, or even admit that she was on the chain.
“If it’s not classified, share the texts now,” Warner told Gabbard. “Share it with the committee. You can’t have it both ways. These are important jobs. This is our national security.”
Ratcliffe also testified that he did not know how Goldberg was added to the thread.
“Don't insult the intelligence of the American people,” Democratic Senator Michael Bennet told him. “You’re the CIA director! Why didn't you call out that he was present on the thread?”
Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff asked Ratcliffe whether he agreed “this was a huge mistake.”
“No,” Ratcliffe replied.
After some cross talk, in which Ratcliffe called the scandal an “inadvertent mistake,” Ossoff called the ordeal an “embarrassment.”
“This is utterly unprofessional. There’s been no apology. There has been no recognition of the gravity of this error,” he added. “We will get the full transcript of this chain and your testimony will be measured carefully against its content.”
Speaking to NBC News on Tuesday, the president defended Waltz as a “good man” who “learned a lesson.”
Goldberg’s presence had “no impact at all” and the attacks were “perfectly successful,” Trump said.
Hegseth, meanwhile, has contradicted the White House’s admission of the authenticity of the leak and has sought to discredit The Atlantic and Goldberg instead.
“You’re talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes,” Hegseth told reporters Monday. “This is a guy who peddles in garbage.”