The fallout from the Signal leak

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The Washington Post

Daily News, Politics, News

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🗓️ 25 March 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

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Summary

A Tuesday hearing had been previously scheduled for senior Trump administration officials to share an annual global threat assessment with the Senate Intelligence Committee. Instead, Democratic senators spent much of the time grilling them about their involvement in a Signal group chat in which Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of the Atlantic, had been erroneously included.

Screenshots shared by Goldberg showed top officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, discussing a U.S. plan to launch airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen. They shared precise information about weapons and timing.

Host Colby Itkowitz is joined by national security reporters Dan Lamothe and Abigail Hauslohner to discuss the security risks this poses and how the administration and Congress are responding.

Today’s episode was produced by Sabby Robinson and Ted Muldoon, who also mixed the show. It was edited by Lucy Perkins, with help from Peter Bresnan.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	On Monday, a bombshell report revealed that top Trump administration officials had discussed military plans, highly sensitive plans, in a group chat.
0:13.4	They were using Signal, an unclassified app, and they mistakenly included a journalist from the Atlantic.
0:21.7	This highly sensitive text thread
0:23.9	quickly drew criticism from Democrats
0:26.2	and broadly from intelligence experts.
0:29.2	Today, the extraordinary group chat took center stage
0:32.1	at a previously scheduled hearing
0:33.6	of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
0:36.3	And that wasn't a huge mistake And that wasn't a huge mistake?
0:38.4	That wasn't a huge mistake?
0:39.4	Well, I think they characterized it as a mistake.
0:43.1	This is utterly unprofessional.
0:45.9	There's been no apology.
0:48.0	There has been no recognition of the gravity of this error.
0:52.2	And by the way, we will get the full transcript of this chain, and your
0:56.6	testimony will be measured carefully against its content.
1:01.3	That's Democratic Senator John Asoff of Georgia, grilling, director of the CIA, John
1:06.4	Rockcliffe. Ratcliffe was in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee today, along with Director of
1:11.6	National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Cash Patel, the director of the FBI.
1:16.6	They were pre-scheduled to appear to give a global threat assessment.
1:19.6	It's something that happens every year.
1:21.6	But instead, this routine congressional hearing became a must-watch event.
	...

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