Intelligence leaders under President Donald Trump are rejecting claims that a group Signal chat included any breach of classified information. The situation, which began after Atlantic Editor Jeffrey Goldberg was mistakenly added to the group, has become the focus of partisan attacks from Senate Democrats.
During a recent Senate hearing, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) demanded that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe provide the chat logs. Gabbard declined to do so, saying the situation is still under review, but made it clear that nothing secret had been revealed.
No classified material.
That is the end of the discussion. Move on Dems— Steve Brown (@J_Steve_Brown) March 25, 2025
Gabbard did not confirm whether she was in the group chat but dismissed the idea that national security had been compromised. She pointed out that there’s a difference between a malicious leak and an accidental inclusion — and said neither case applied here since the content itself was not classified.
Warner attempted to use one of Gabbard’s own statements against her, quoting a previous post warning that releasing classified information was illegal. Gabbard responded by saying that while leaks are serious, this incident did not involve classified material.
Why can’t he allow them to answer? Without interruption
— Ms.G (@GSchifanelli) March 25, 2025
Ratcliffe confirmed that he was part of the chat and added that Signal was considered a valid communication method within the CIA. He explained that when he assumed leadership of the agency, Signal was pre-installed on his CIA computer and its use was approved for work purposes.
Goldberg had claimed that discussions in the chat included operational details and the name of a U.S. intelligence officer. Neither Gabbard nor Ratcliffe confirmed that those details were classified or even accurate.
Some Democratic lawmakers have gone further by calling for Pete Hegseth to resign due to his reported involvement in the group. However, those calls have been dismissed by critics who say they are based on speculation rather than confirmed facts.
The committee has yet to receive the chat messages, and Gabbard emphasized that the matter is being reviewed internally by the intelligence community.
