Dem senator calls for Waltz, Hegseth to resign as Gabbard says no classified material shared in Signal
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called for national security advisor Mike Waltz and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to resign Tuesday following an apparent national security breach.
The demand came after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard vowed during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing that there was “no classified material” shared in a Signal text chat that an editor from The Atlantic said he had access to. The U.S. operation against the Houthis in Yemen was reportedly discussed in the chat between senior Cabinet officials.
“Obviously, my colleagues and I feel very strongly about the war planning meeting over unclassified phones. Obviously reckless, obviously dangerous, both the mishandling of classified information and the deliberate destruction of federal records or potential crimes that ought to be investigated immediately,” Wyden said. “And I want to make clear that I’m of the view that there ought to be resignation starting with the National Security Advisor and the Secretary of Defense.”
However, Trump told Fox News that he isn’t planning on firing Waltz.
TRUMP NOT PLANNING TO FIRE WALTZ AFTER NATIONAL SECURITY TEXT CHAIN LEAK
Earlier, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., grilled Gabbard over the nature of the texts.
“Director Gabbard, did you participate in the group chat with Secretary of Defense and other Trump senior officials discussing the Yemen war plans?” the committee vice chairman asked her.
“I don’t want to get into the specifics,” she responded, noting that the matter is “currently under review by the National Security Council.”
“There was no classified material that was shared in that,” Gabbard also said.
“So then if there [was] no classified material, share it with the committee,” Warner shot back. “You can’t have it both ways. These are important jobs. This is our national security. Bobbing and weaving and trying to, you know, filibuster your answer. So please answer the question. Director Gabbard, if this was a rank-and-file intelligence officer who did this kind of careless behavior, what would you do with them?”
“Senator, I’ll reiterate that there was no classified material that was shared in that,” she said.
Earlier, 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.”
CIA Director John Ratcliffe and FBI Director Kash Patel appeared alongside Gabbard on Tuesday.
Ratcliffe confirmed he was the person bearing his name in the group chat.
“To be clear, the use of Signal message, and end to end encryption applications is permissible and was in this case, used permissibly, at least to my understanding, and in [a] lawful manner,” he told Wyden.
Patel, when asked by Warner if the FBI has launched an investigation into the chat, said he was briefed on the matter “late last night” and “this morning, I don’t have an update.”
Later during the hearing, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., speaking to Ratcliffe, said “it’s been raised at several occasions now in this hearing about whether classified information was discussed in this chat. And you mentioned about the Secretary of Defense being what you call I think the original classification authority.”
“Correct,” he responded.
“I think it’s important for the public to understand that although you and Director Gabbard are original classification authorities on many matters, you’re not that for all matters that might be classified in the government,” the committee chairman added. “So if the Secretary of State has classified sensitive diplomatic details, that’s his authority. If the Secretary of Energy has class of sensitive classified information about our national laboratories, that’s his. And the two of you can’t speak to other departments who had their own original classification authority.”
When Ratcliffe was asked by Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., as to whether the Signal conversation “at some point included information on weapons packages, targets, or timing,” he responded, “not that I’m aware of.”
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“Same answer, and defer to the Department of Defense on that question,” Gabbard said when it was her turn to respond.
Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.