Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., called for an expedited inspector general investigation into the leak of highly sensitive military attack plans to a journalist—indicating a break with the Trump administration among Republicans as the White House attempts to downplay the incident.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) opens up the nomination hearing of Elbridge Colby, nominee to be Under ... More
Wicker, chair of the Senate Armed Services committee, and the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., sent a letter to the Trump administration Wednesday asking for the Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General to conduct an investigation into revelations that Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was included in a group chat with senior Trump administration officials discussing military attack plans against the Houthi rebel group in Yemen.
Wicker also contradicted the White House narrative that the information was not classified, suggesting during a committee hearing Wednesday the Trump administration should just “own up” to the “mistake,” and saying “the information as published recently appears to me to be of a sensitive nature. I would have wanted it classified.”
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., more directly disputed Trump officials’ claims that the information was not classified, telling Axios “the White House is in denial that this was not classified or sensitive data.” Bacon also said “they should just own up to it and preserve credibility.” Multiple other Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., and Rep. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., have openly expressed concerns about the leak, with LaLota telling Politico it was “at minimum . . . totally sloppy” and Sheehy telling reporters “somebody f---ed up.”
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe both told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday and Wednesday the information was not classified, echoing previous statements from the White House.
Multiple Democrats, including Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., and Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., have called for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and/or National Security Advisor Mike Waltz to resign or be fired over the leak, though no Republicans have publicly joined them. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., sent a letter to Trump on Tuesday asking him to “immediately” fire Hegseth, who he said “recklessly and casually disclosed highly sensitive war plans,” multiple outlets reported.
Goldberg revealed Monday Waltz added him to a group chat with 18 senior Trump administration officials on the Signal messaging app, allowing him to view their communications about the war plans in real time, minutes before they occurred. The Atlantic on Wednesday published screenshots of the messages in which Hegseth gave a detailed timeline of the attacks, including weaponry, descriptions of targets and precise launch times. Prior to the texts being made public, Hegseth and Waltz insisted no war plans were discussed. Waltz took responsibility for adding Goldberg to the chat in a Fox News interview Tuesday and suggested he may have made the error because Goldberg’s number was saved under another name in his phone, insisting he has never met and doesn’t know Goldberg, who told NBC News earlier Tuesday he met Waltz twice years ago.
Atlantic Reveals Texts From Trump Officials—With Detailed Timeline Of Houthi Attack Plan (Forbes)
Waltz Says He Doesn’t Know Atlantic Editor He Invited To War Chat—As Trump Defends Aide (Forbes)