US president Donald Trump has moved to downplay the gravity of the unprecedented self-inflicted US security breach by senior cabinet members as “the only glitch in two months and it turned out not to be a serious one”.
Washington political circles were on Tuesday struggling to absorb the staggering blunder that led to a story in the Atlantic political magazine, written by its editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, revealing that he had been inadvertently invited to a confidential Signal group chat set up by and for key Trump officials, including secretary of defence Pete Hegseth, who shared advance details of the recent US bombing mission on Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Tulsi Gabbard, the national intelligence director, and John Ratcliffe, the CIA director, both endured a deeply uncomfortable morning on Tuesday when they appeared as witnesses at a scheduled Senate committee on intelligence on Capitol Hill. Both had been part of the Signal group chat and offered evasive responses to sustained questioning from Democratic members of the committee.
In a telephone interview with NBC, Mr Trump defended his security adviser Michael Waltz, who had sent the erroneous invitation.
“Michael Waltz has learned a lesson and he’s a good man,” Mr Trump said, later stating that his adviser should not apologise.
Although the president told NBC News an aide to Mr Waltz was responsible for putting Mr Goldberg’s number on the phone, Mr Waltz said no one on his staff was to blame.
“Well, look, a staffer wasn’t responsible, and I take full responsibility, I built the group,” he said during a Fox interview.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt characterised Mr Goldberg – who was widely praised for his restrained reporting of the unfettered access to which he was privy for four consecutive days – as a journalist who was “well known for his sensational spin”.
She insisted no “war plans” were discussed. “No classified material was sent to the thread,” she said. “As the National Security Council stated, the White House is looking into how Goldberg’s number was inadvertently added to the thread. Houthi strikes were successful and effective. Terrorists were killed and that’s what matters most to president Trump.”
Mr Goldberg, however, has contradicted the White House denials – reiterated by Mr Hegseth in his only public comment on the controversy – that the thread contained no classified information. “They are wrong,” the journalist said.
The Signal content was one of the main points of contention at the Senate committee hearing. The tone of questioning conformed with party affiliation, with the Democratic members pressing both Ms Gabbard and Mr Ratcliffe on the issue.
Ms Gabbard refused to even confirm she was part of the Signal group at the outset of the session. Both were evasive in their answers and claimed not to recall specific conversations.
Ms Gabbard allowed that “targets in general” had been part of the chain and Mr Ratcliffe that “pre-decisional strike deliberations” should be conducted through classified channels. Apparent contradictions contained within their replies were presented to both witnesses.
“You are the head of the intelligence community,” the Independent senator from Maine, Angus King, reminded Ms Gabbard. “If it is not classified then please release that whole text stream.”
A closing argument delivered by Jon Ossoff, the 38-year-old Democratic senator for Georgia, contained an implicit warning.
“This was an embarrassment. There has been no apology. There has been no recognition of the gravity of this error,” he said. “And by the way, we will get the full testimony of this chain and your testimony will be measured carefully against its content.”
