Congress received sworn testimony that no classified information was shared in Signal chats about a military strike in Yemen, as Democrats call on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to resign over the messages that were leaked by a liberal journalist.
The Atlantic published the full chats on Wednesday, which show Hegseth sharing details about weather, timing, and weapon systems shortly before a successful operation against Houthi rebels.
Across two days of hearings, Democrats grilled CIA director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard over the chats and their national security implications.
“If this information had gotten out, American lives could have been lost. If the Houthis had this information they could reposition their defensive systems,” Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) said Tuesday.
Gabbard and Ratcliffe both said during Tuesday's hearing before the Senate Intelligence Community that no classified information was included, although they added it's up to Hegseth to decide what is classified and what isn't. Ratcliffe also defended the use of Signal, an encrypted chat platform, as appropriate for a CIA official.
Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee pounced on the Atlantic's publication of the full chat messages Wednesday, with some lawmakers presenting poster boards with the texts printed on them. But Trump's officials stood their ground.
"My answers haven't changed. I used an appropriate channel to communicate sensitive information. It was permissible to do so. I didn't transfer any classified information, and at the end of the day, what is most important is that the mission was a remarkable success," Ratcliffe said.
The chats mostly consist of a foreign policy discussion among top Trump officials, including Hegseth, national security adviser Michael Waltz, and Vice President J.D. Vance, about when to strike at Houthi rebels who have crippled shipping in the Suez Canal. In the most heavily scrutinized texts, Hegseth shared a mission update that reads in part, "Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch."
"THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP," Hegseth wrote elsewhere in the text.
Later, Waltz shared an update to confirm that a target was successfully taken out. Waltz has since taken responsibility for adding Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to the chat room by mistake.
While the Trump administration says the controversy is being exaggerated, Democrats have said the kind of information included in Hegseth's messages was sensitive enough to be classified. Wednesday's House hearing grew contentious when one Democrat, Jimmy Gomez (Ca.), asked if Hegseth had been drinking.
"I think that’s an offensive line of questioning. The answer is no,” Ratcliffe said.
Gabbard conceded the chats were sensitive in nature, but she denied that they rose to the classified level.
“The conversation was candid and sensitive, but as the president national security adviser stated, no classified information was shared," Gabbard said.
"There were no sources, methods, locations or war plans that were shared. This was a standard update to the national security Cabinet that was provided alongside updates that were given to foreign partners in the region,” Gabbard added.
