WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� President on Tuesday the against Yemen's Houthis this month to a group chat that included a journalist, saying it was 鈥渢he only glitch in two months鈥� of his administration as Democratic lawmakers heaped criticism on the administration for handling highly sensitive information carelessly.
Trump told NBC News that the lapse 鈥渢urned out not to be a serious one," and expressed his continued support for national security adviser .
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.
鈥淢ichael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he鈥檚 a good man," Trump said. He also appeared to point blame on an unnamed Waltz aide for Goldberg being added to the chain. 鈥淚t was one of Michael鈥檚 people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there."
But the to discuss a sensitive operation has opened the administration to blistering 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.
Waltz makes his first public comments
Waltz said Tuesday he was not sure how Goldberg ended up on the chat.
"This one in particular, I鈥檝e never met, don鈥檛 know, never communicated with,鈥� Waltz said.
Later Tuesday, Waltz said in an appearance on Fox News Channel's 鈥淭he Ingraham Angle鈥� that he built the message chain and that White House technical experts were trying to figure out how Goldberg's contact 鈥渕ay have been sucked in.鈥�
鈥淲e made a mistake. We鈥檙e moving forward," said Waltz, who added that he took 鈥渇ull responsibility鈥� 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.
鈥淲e won鈥檛 be using it very much鈥� in the future, Trump said of Signal. "That鈥檚 one of the prices you pay when you鈥檙e not sitting in the Situation Room with no phones on, which is always the best, frankly."
Trump added, 鈥淚f 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.鈥�
One official reported to be on the Signal chain, Director of National Intelligence 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 鈥榓n embarrassment鈥�
Both Gabbard and CIA Director , 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?鈥� Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, asked.
After a brief pause, Ratcliffe shook his head. 鈥淣o,鈥� he said.
Ratcliffe attempted to interject as Ossoff asked a follow-up question, leading the two men to speak over each other.
鈥淭his is an embarrassment,鈥� Ossoff said, silencing Ratcliffe. 鈥淭his is utterly unprofessional. There鈥檚 been no apology. There has been no recognition of the gravity of this error.鈥�
In the run-up to 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.
鈥淵ou have got to be kidding me,鈥� Clinton said in an X post that spotlighted The Atlantic article and included an eyes emoji.
Trump also faced charges classified information at his Mar-a-Lago resort following his first White House term. Those charges were
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. 鈥淚 defer to the secretary of defense, the National Security Council, on that question,鈥� 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 has dodged questions about whether the information he put in a Signal chat was classified. On Tuesday while in Hawaii, he repeated almost word for word his short statement from the day before that 鈥渘obody鈥檚 texting war plans, and that鈥檚 all I have to say about that.鈥�
Democrats pushed back, saying the leaked military plans show a sloppy disregard for security, but Ratcliffe insisted no rules were violated.
鈥淢y communications to be clear in the Signal message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information,鈥� 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 there鈥檚 a difference between 鈥渋nadvertent鈥� releases of information and intentional leaks. 鈥淭here was no classified material that was shared,鈥� Gabbard said.
Warner, though, said the lapse in security could have cost lives.
鈥淚f this information had gotten out, American lives could have been lost. If the Houthis had this information they could reposition their defensive systems,鈥� 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. 鈥淚 certainly want our deliberations to stay confidential,鈥� he said.
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.
鈥淚鈥檓 of the view that there ought to be resignations,鈥� Wyden said.
FBI Director appearing with Ratcliffe and Gabbard at the hearing, said he was only recently briefed on the Signal chat matter and doesn鈥檛 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 鈥渃oordinated effort to distract from the successful actions taken by President Trump and his administration to make America鈥檚 enemies pay and keep Americans safe.鈥�
Examining the security of Signal
Signal is 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.
Signal鈥檚 encryption protocol is open source, meaning that it鈥檚 freely available for anyone to inspect, use or modify. The encryption protocol is also used by another popular chat service, social media company Meta鈥檚 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.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard for me to believe that targets and timing and weapons would not have been classified,鈥� he said.
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AP writer Kelvin Chan in London and Darlene Superville contributed reporting.
David Klepper And Aamer Madhani, The Associated Press
