Calls for Pete Hegseth to resign after full transcript of chat released; two Pa. lawmakers avoid pressing Tulsi Gabbard on leak

For the second straight day, two top Trump officials were grilled on Capitol Hill after taking part in a group chat on Signal with other Cabinet members where sensitive information about airstrikes was mistakenly mentioned in front of a journalist.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliff’s testimony to the House Intelligence Committee Wednesday largely echoed their comments Tuesday to a similar committee in the Senate, where they claimed no classified information was mentioned and described the leak of sensitive material to a journalist a “mistake.”

“It was a mistake that a reporter was inadvertently added to a Signal chat with high level national security principals having a policy discussion about imminent strikes against the Houthis and the effects of the strikes,” Gabbard testified. “The conversation was candid and sensitive, but as the president’s national security advisor stated, no classified information was shared.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed he was on the Signal group chat that included other top Trump officials but downplayed the seriousness of the information being leaked to a journalist.

“Someone made a big mistake and added a journalist," Rubio said Wednesday, speaking alongside Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness during a tour of the Caribbean. “Nothing against journalists, but you aren’t supposed to be on that thing.”

Rubio said he’s been assured by the Pentagon that the group chat’s details about attacking Houthis in Yemen weren’t classified.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Wednesday the full transcript of a group chat involving top Trump officials supported his previous claim "war plans" weren't discussed on Signal.

"No one is texting war plans," Hegseth told reporters on the tarmac in Honolulu ahead of a trip to Guam, the Philippines, and Japan. "There's no units, no locations, no routes, no flight paths, no sources, no methods, no classified information."

Hegseth walked away before reporters were able to ask him questions about the incident.

White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday President Donald Trump still has “great trust” in his national security team, but declined to definitively say no official involved in the chat leak would lose their job. 

“What I can say definitively is what I just spoke to the president about and he continues to have confidence in his national security team,” Leavitt said. 

Leavitt and the administration continue to claim the details on airstrikes revealed in a full transcript of the chat on Signal were not classified, and that the decision to declassify information is the responsibility of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Sen. Roger Wicker (R., Miss.) said he and Sen. Jack Reed (D., R.I.), the committee’s top Democrat, will send a letter to the Trump administration requesting an Inspector General investigation into the use of Signal by top national security officials to discuss military plans.

Wicker is also calling for a classified Senate briefing from a top national security official and verification that The Atlantic published an accurate transcript of the Signal chat.

Wicker’s move is notable given the Trump administration’s defiance. Most Republicans seem content to allow the episode to blow over.

Rep. Scott Perry (R., Pa.) followed the lead of other Republicans by not pressing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard or CIA Director John Ratcliffe about a controversial group chat during a House Intelligence Committee hearing Wednesday. 

Perry, an outspoken supporter of President Trump who attempted to overturn Pennsylvania’s election results in 2020, instead used his time to ask questions involving immigration and China, including the claim the country is buying up “wide-scale” swaths of land in the U.S. 

As of the end of 2023, China held 277,336 acres of land in the U.S., less than 1% of all foreign-held land within the country, according to a joint report by the Farm Service Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Foreign-held land represents less than 2% of all land in the U.S., the report noted.

U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D., Pa.) took issue with a comment made by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that Defense Security Pete Hegseth had the ultimate authority over which information in a group chat was classified or declassified. 

“You are the DNI,” Houlahan said during a hearing of the House Intelligence Committee Wednesday, adding the chat included many cabinet members and top Trump officials and “did not have the auspice of being a DOD chat.” 

Houlahan, a former Air Force officer who represents most of Chester County, said she believed Hegseth should resign over the security leak and pressed a reluctant Gabbard to commit to investigating the incident fully.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth blasted The Atlantic and its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, following the release of the full transcript of a group chat involving several top Trump officials.

"So, let’s me get this straight. The Atlantic released the so-called “war plans” and those “plans” include: No names. No targets. No locations. No units. No routes. No sources. No methods. And no classified information," Hegseth wrote on social media Wednesday morning. "Those are some really s— war plans."

"This only proves one thing: Jeff Goldberg has never seen a war plan or an “attack plan” (as he now calls it). Not even close," Hegseth added.

U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.) opted not to question question Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard or CIA Director John Ratcliffe on the Signal group chat during a House Intelligence Committee hearing Wednesday.

Instead, Fitzpatrick asked a single question on the reauthorization of Section 702 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which was updated last year to allow the government to collect certain communications between American citizens without a warrant.

Fitzpatrick and other Republicans have attempted to avoid delving too much into the controversy surrounding the group chat of top Trump officials on Signal that included sensitive information on airstrikes. 

Sen. Mark Warner (D., Va.), the ranking member on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he believes Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe "lied" under oath during their testimony Tuesday.

Both testified there were no classified materials mentioned in a group chat of top Trump officials on Signal ahead of airstrikes in Yemen. In a full transcript published Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth included specific details, timing, and locations ahead of the strike, which experts suggest should be highly classified.

During an interview on MSNBC Wednesday morning, Warner said "the two witnesses, I believe, lied when they said: ‘Oh, nothing to see here, nothing classified.'"

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard once again claimed no classified materials were discussed in a group chat on airstrikes in Yemen involving top Trump officials that mistakingly included a journalist from The Atlantic magazine.

"It was a mistake that a reporter was inadvertently added to a Signal chat with high level national security principles having a policy discussion about imminent strikes against the Houthis and the effects of the strikes," Gabbard testified Wednesday before the House Intelligence Committee.

"The conversation was candid and sensitive, but as the president's national security advisor stated, no classified information was shared," Gabbard added. "There were no sources, methods, locations or war plans that were shared."

Sen. Andy Kim (D., N.J.) called for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to resign after the "shocking" details of a Signal chat between top Trump administration officials was published Wednesday morning by The Atlantic magazine.

"As someone who worked in the Situation Room before, I cannot believe Hegseth would recklessly text info that could put a target on our pilots and service members," Kim wrote on social media. "He needs to resign."

Sen. Mark Kelly (D., Ariz.), a retired Navy combat pilot and astronaut, also called on Hegseth to step down, describing the former Fox News host as "the most unqualified Secretary of Defense we've ever seen."

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe — both of whom were on the controversial Signal text chain detailing war plans in Yemen — will testify on Capitol Hill Wednesday before the House Intelligence Committee.

The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.

Three Pennsylvania representatives are on the 25-seat committee: Republicans Scott Perry and Brian Fitzpatrick and Democrat Chrissy Houlahan.

The Atlantic released the entire Signal chat among Trump senior national security officials Wednesday, showing that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provided the exact times of warplane launches, strike packages and targets — before the men and women flying those attacks against Yemen’s Houthis this month on behalf of the United States were airborne.

What was revealed was jaw-dropping in its specificity and includes the type of information that is kept to a very close hold to protect the operational security of a military strike.

In the group chat, Hegseth posted:

The House Intelligence Committee is looking into how a discussion of national security plans including top members of President Donald Trump’s administration, led by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, mistakenly included a journalist from the Atlantic magazine.

During an interview Monday night on CNN, U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.) said the committee would send an inquiry to the office of Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of national intelligence. Gabbard was reportedly among the officials on a group chat that discussed details of attack against the Houthi militia in Yemen on Signal, an encrypted messaging app often used by journalists.

Fitzpatrick said that he “would presume” his committee will vote to investigate the matter, but that it would depend on the information it received from Gabbard’s office.