CIA Director John Ratcliffe, right, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testify March 25, 2025, during a Senate hearing in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — Top U.S. intelligence officials for the Trump administration denied Tuesday that any classified information was shared in a commercial group chat that was used to discuss plans to bomb Houthi targets in Yemen and inadvertently included a journalist.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who were among the participants in the chat over the Signal messaging app, refused to admit wrongdoing as the fallout over the scandal continued to reverberate on Capitol Hill.
They appeared before the Senate Select Intelligence Committee a day after the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine revealed he was accidentally added to a group chat where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted information on weapons packages, targets and timing for the airstrikes.
Ratcliffe and Gabbard denied such details were shared in the discussion, and Gabbard deferred questions on whether they would be considered classified to Hegseth and the National Security Council.
“I can attest to the fact that there were no classified or intelligence equities that were included in that chat group at any time,” Gabbard said.
Ratcliffe acknowledged he was included in the chat, and Gabbard refused to answer whether she participated in it, saying she was not “going to get into the specifics” because the matter was under review.
Several senators expressed doubt that there was no classified information in the discussion. If that was true, they argued, then intelligence officials should have no issues with releasing the entire text thread.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., peppers CIA director John Ratcliffe with questions on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, during a Senate Committee on Intelligence hearing about a group chat on the Signal messaging app that included top Trump intelligence officials and discussed war plans. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
“The notion there’s not even acknowledgment of, ‘Hey, gosh, we screwed up,’ is stunning to me, and the idea that somehow, well, ‘none of this was classified, but we can’t talk about it here’ — you can’t have it both ways,” said Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the committee. “If it’s not classified, we’d ask you to give it to the public today.”
Goldberg in his report omitted details that he believed could be used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, including the name of a CIA official who Ratcliffe had named in the chat as his point of contact. The official is an active intelligence officer, according to Goldberg.
Ratcliffe said Tuesday that the official is not operating under cover so providing the name in the chat was not inappropriate. He also defended the use of Signal, saying it was permissible and lawful to use to communicate and coordinate for work purposes.
“The national security adviser intended this to be, as it should have been, a mechanism for coordinating between senior level officials but not a substitute for using high side or classified communications for anything that would be classified,” Ratcliffe said. “And I think that that is exactly what did happen.”
He later admitted “pre-decisional strike deliberation should be conducted through classified channels.”
The White House on Tuesday also argued no war plans were discussed in the Signal chat and said Goldberg was “well -known for his sensationalist spin.” Hegseth also lashed out at Goldberg in comments Monday, attacking him as “deceitful and highly discredited.”
Hegseth has denied he mishandled classified information and insisted “nobody was texting war plans.” Gabbard and Ratcliffe told senators Tuesday that Hegseth has the authority to determine whether information is classified.
The intelligence officials were largely grilled by Democrats at Tuesday’s hearing, and Republicans either did not mention the Signal scandal or said they would discuss it behind closed doors. Several lawmakers told Gabbard and Ratcliffe that they will be investigating further.
“There’s been no apology. There has been no recognition of the gravity of this error,” said Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga. “And by the way, we will get the full transcript of this chain, and your testimony will be measured carefully against its content.”
Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., asks CIA Director John Ratcliffe questions on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, about a Signal group chat that was reported to have included classified information. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
