(NewsNation) — Top Trump intelligence officials at a House committee hearing about global security on Wednesday denied sharing classified information in a Signal group chat.
This hearing comes one day after the committee’s Senate equivalent grilled the leaders over the group chat leak.
National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and FBI Director Kash Patel, among others, testified at the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence‘s open hearing.
Though the purpose of the hearing was to discuss the intelligence community’s 2025 Annual Worldwide Threats Assessment, representatives were further questioned about a bombshell report from the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg. Goldberg wrote that he was added to a Signal group chat where officials talked about a planned attack on the Houthis in Yemen.
In her opening statements before being questioned by lawmakers, Gabbard addressed the Signal text chain, which the Atlantic released screenshots of Wednesday.
She said it was a “mistake that a reporter was inadvertently added” to the chat.
“The conversation was candid and sensitive, but as the President and National Security Adviser stated, no classified information was shared,” Gabbard said.
Ratcliffe also said he did not transmit any classified information.
“The reporter, who I don’t know, I think intentionally intended it to indicate that,” Ratcliffe said. “That reporter also indicated that I had released the name of an undercover CIA operative in that Signal Chat. I had released the name of my chief of staff, who is not operating undercover.”
However, Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn, said that according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, any information “providing indication or advance warning that the US or its allies are preparing an attack should be classified as top secret.”
Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from Texas, said the idea that the information in the Signal messages, if they were presented to the committee, would not be classified “is a lie.”
“That’s ridiculous. I’ve seen things much less sensitive be presented to us with high classification,” Castro said. “To say that it isn’t is a lie to the country.”
Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who “undoubtedly transmitted classified, sensitive, operational information via this chain” must resign immediately.
“There can be no fixes, there can be no corrections until there is accountability and I am calling on the administration to move forward with accountability,” Crow said. Several other Democrats on the committee also said Hegseth should resign.
Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif. and Ratcliffe got into an argument after Gomez asked him and Gabbard whether Hegseth was drinking during the time of the Signal chat discussion.
“That is an offensive line of questioning,” Ratcliffe said.
Gomez responded that this question was on Americans’ minds.
“Of course, we want to know if his performance was compromised,” Gomez said. NBC reported last year that Hegseth “drank in ways that concerned his colleagues at Fox News.” In addition, the New Yorker wrote about Hegseth’s drinking at two jobs he held at nonprofit veterans’ groups.
Patel said he was not on the Signal chat and had not reviewed it.
Senate scolds Tulsi Gabbard, John Ratcliffe and Kash Patel
Tuesday’s hearing in Congress’ upper chamber yielded little information into Goldberg’s account of a message thread for administration members.
Gabbard refused to confirm whether she was part of the leaked message thread on Tuesday, but on Wednesday, she admitted she replied at the end of the chat.
Asked what she was doing while the Signal chat was happening, Gabbard said she was traveling through the Asia-Pacific region.
“I don’t recall which country I was in at the time,” Gabbard said. “I’d have to go back and look at the schedule.”
The situation is “currently under review by the National Security Council,” Gabbard said.
Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff asked Ratcliffe during the hearing, “This was a huge mistake, correct?” to which Ratcliffe answered, “No.”
Despite calls for Hegseth and national security adviser Mike Waltz to step down, President Donald Trump on Tuesday told reporters he doesn’t think Waltz needs to apologize.
“I think he is doing his best,” Trump said.
