Trump downplays national security team texting military operation plan as a minor 'glitch'
President Donald Trump on Tuesday downplayed the texting of sensitive plans for a military strike against Yemen's Houthis this month to a group chat that included a journalist, saying it was 바카라 게임 웹사이트the only glitch in two months바카라 게임 웹사이트 of his administration as Democratic lawmakers heaped criticism on the administration for handling highly sensitive information carelessly.
Trump told NBC 온라인 바카라 게임 that the lapse 바카라 게임 웹사이트turned out not to be a serious one," and expressed his continued support for national security adviser Mike Waltz.
Waltz, according to an article posted online Monday by The Atlantic, appeared to have mistakenly added the magazine's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, to a chat that included 18 senior administration officials discussing planning for the strike.
바카라 게임 웹사이트Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he바카라 게임 웹사이트s a good man," Trump said. He also appeared to point blame on an unnamed Waltz aide for Goldberg being added to the chain. 바카라 게임 웹사이트It was one of Michael바카라 게임 웹사이트s people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there."
But the use of messaging app Signal to discuss a sensitive operation has opened the administration to blistering criticism from Democratic lawmakers who expressed outrage at the White House's and senior administration officials' insistence that no classified information was shared. Senior administration officials have struggled to explain why the publicly available app was used to discuss such a delicate matter.
Video below: Gabbard, Ratcliffe asked about Signal group chat
Waltz makes his first public comments
Waltz said Tuesday he was not sure how Goldberg ended up on the chat.
"This one in particular, I바카라 게임 웹사이트ve never met, don바카라 게임 웹사이트t know, never communicated with,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Waltz said.
Later Tuesday, Waltz said in an appearance on Fox 온라인 바카라 게임 Channel's 바카라 게임 웹사이트The Ingraham Angle바카라 게임 웹사이트 that he built the message chain and that White House technical experts were trying to figure out how Goldberg's contact 바카라 게임 웹사이트may have been sucked in.바카라 게임 웹사이트
바카라 게임 웹사이트We made a mistake. We바카라 게임 웹사이트re moving forward," said Waltz, who added that he took 바카라 게임 웹사이트full responsibility바카라 게임 웹사이트 for the episode.
Trump, for his part, continued to attack The Atlantic and Goldberg and sent mixed messages on whether the administration would change how it goes about sharing sensitive information going forward.
바카라 게임 웹사이트We won바카라 게임 웹사이트t be using it very much바카라 게임 웹사이트 in the future, Trump said of Signal. "That바카라 게임 웹사이트s one of the prices you pay when you바카라 게임 웹사이트re not sitting in the Situation Room with no phones on, which is always the best, frankly."
Trump added, 바카라 게임 웹사이트If it was up to me everybody would be sitting in a room together. The room would have solid lead walls and a lead ceiling and lead floor.바카라 게임 웹사이트
One official reported to be on the Signal chain, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, acknowledged during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday that she was traveling overseas during the exchange. She wouldn't say whether she was using her personal or government-issued phone because the matter is under review by the White House National Security Council.
One Democrat calls the mistake 바카라 게임 웹사이트an embarrassment바카라 게임 웹사이트
Both Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who also was a participant in the Signal exchange and also testified at Tuesday's intelligence hearing, faced blistering criticism from lawmakers.
"Director Ratcliffe, this was a huge mistake, correct?바카라 게임 웹사이트 Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, asked.
After a brief pause, Ratcliffe shook his head. 바카라 게임 웹사이트No,바카라 게임 웹사이트 he said.
Ratcliffe attempted to interject as Ossoff asked a follow-up question, leading the two men to speak over each other.
바카라 게임 웹사이트This is an embarrassment,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Ossoff said, silencing Ratcliffe. 바카라 게임 웹사이트This is utterly unprofessional. There바카라 게임 웹사이트s been no apology. There has been no recognition of the gravity of this error.바카라 게임 웹사이트
In the run-up to his 2016 election victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump urged criminal prosecution of the former secretary of state for communicating about classified information with her aides on a private email server she set up. The matter was investigated, but the FBI ultimately recommended against charges. None were brought.
Clinton was among Democrats this week to criticize Trump administration officials' use of Signal.
바카라 게임 웹사이트You have got to be kidding me,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Clinton said in an X post that spotlighted The Atlantic article and included an eyes emoji.
Trump also faced charges for mishandling classified information at his Mar-a-Lago resort following his first White House term. Those charges were later dismissed.
Administration says Democrats shouldn't be outraged
But on Tuesday, top administration officials were insistent the Democratic outrage was misplaced.
Ratcliffe and Gabbard told lawmakers that no classified information was included in the texts about U.S. attack plans in the message chain.
But that the messages included precise information about weapons packages, targets and timing, but did not publish those details.
Pressed on whether such information should be classified, Gabbard hedged. 바카라 게임 웹사이트I defer to the secretary of defense, the National Security Council, on that question,바카라 게임 웹사이트 she said.
Ratcliffe in one exchange with lawmakers said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth held the authority on determining whether the information in the message chain was classified.
Hegseth in comments hours after The Atlantic story published did not directly answer questions about whether the information message chain was classified.
바카라 게임 웹사이트Nobody was texting war plans and that바카라 게임 웹사이트s all I have to say about that,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Hegseth said in an exchange with reporters on Monday at the start of a trip to the Indo-Pacific.
Democrats pushed back, saying the leaked military plans show a sloppy disregard for security, but Ratcliffe insisted no rules were violated.
바카라 게임 웹사이트My communications to be clear in the Signal message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Ratcliffe told lawmakers in the hearing that was supposed to be focused on global security threats.
Facing heated questions from Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, Gabbard said there바카라 게임 웹사이트s a difference between 바카라 게임 웹사이트inadvertent바카라 게임 웹사이트 releases of information and intentional leaks. 바카라 게임 웹사이트There was no classified material that was shared,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Gabbard said.
Warner, though, said the lapse in security could have cost lives.
바카라 게임 웹사이트If this information had gotten out, American lives could have been lost. If the Houthis had this information they could reposition their defensive systems,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Warner said.
Waltz in his appearance on Fox said that while all the information in the exchange was unclassified he'd prefer it remain out of the public eye. 바카라 게임 웹사이트I certainly want our deliberations to stay confidential,바카라 게임 웹사이트 he said.
Video below: Hegseth responds to report about war plan leaks to journalist in group chat
Calls for an investigation
In response to questions from Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Gabbard and Ratcliffe said they would participate in an audit looking into administration officials' use of Signal. Wyden said it must be investigated.
바카라 게임 웹사이트I바카라 게임 웹사이트m of the view that there ought to be resignations,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Wyden said.
FBI Director Kash Patel, appearing with Ratcliffe and Gabbard at the hearing, said he was only recently briefed on the Signal chat matter and doesn바카라 게임 웹사이트t have an update on whether the FBI has opened an investigation into it. Warner asked for an update by the end of the day.
The White House in a statement Tuesday called the uproar a 바카라 게임 웹사이트coordinated effort to distract from the successful actions taken by President Trump and his administration to make America바카라 게임 웹사이트s enemies pay and keep Americans safe.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Examining the security of Signal
Signal is an app that can be used for direct messaging and group chats as well as phone and video calls. It uses end-to-end encryption for its messaging and calling services that prevents any third party from viewing conversation content or listening in on calls.
In other words, messages and calls sent on Signal are scrambled; only the sender and recipient at each end will have the key to decipher them.
Signal바카라 게임 웹사이트s encryption protocol is open source, meaning that it바카라 게임 웹사이트s freely available for anyone to inspect, use or modify. The encryption protocol is also used by another popular chat service, social media company Meta바카라 게임 웹사이트s WhatsApp platform.
Government officials have used Signal for organizational correspondence, such as scheduling sensitive meetings.
Sen. Angus King, a Maine Independent, said he was flummoxed by Ratcliffe and Gabbard's assertion that no classified information was included in the chat.
바카라 게임 웹사이트It바카라 게임 웹사이트s hard for me to believe that targets and timing and weapons would not have been classified,바카라 게임 웹사이트 he said.
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AP writer Kelvin Chan in London and Darlene Superville contributed reporting.