Illinois U.S. senators take Hegseth, other Trump admin. members to task for group chat on military strikes
Both U.S. senators and two members of Congress from Illinois on Wednesday lambasted the Trump administration, and in particular Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, over a group chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal that included sensitive details about military strikes in Yemen.
White House national security adviser Mike Waltz inadvertently added Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, to the chat.
Director of Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Wednesday called the chats a "mistake" during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill. She was part of the chat.
"The conversation was candid and sensitive. But as the president and national security advisor have stated, no classified information was shared," Gabbard said. "There were no sources, methods, locations or war plans that were shared."
Hegseth himself also said Wednesday that nobody was texting war plans.
"There's no units, no locations, no routes, no flight paths, no sources, no methods, no classified information," Hegseth said.
Goldberg revealed the first batch of texts from the group chat earlier this week. He initially declined to publish the most sensitive texts because, he wrote, the information "could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel."
But the magazine decided to unveil the withheld messages after Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and other officials publicly asserted that the information wasn't classified.
The Atlantic published additional messages showing Hegseth provided detailed information to the group of senior Trump officials about the strikes targeting Houthi rebels earlier this month, including a timeline of when fighter jets would take off and what kind of weapons would be used.
Hegseth issued the messages more than two hours before the first bombs dropped.
On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) said the information shared on the chat put American forces in danger, and demanded Hegseth's resignation.
"Pete Hegseth is a f*cking liar," Duckworth wrote on social media — censoring the expletive with the single asterisk in her post. "This is so clearly classified info he recklessly leaked that could've gotten our pilots killed. He needs to resign in disgrace immediately."
Duckworth continued: "Hegseth and every other official who was included in this group chat must be subject to an independent investigation. If Republicans won't join us in holding the Trump Administration accountable, then they are complicit in this dangerous and likely criminal breach of our national security."
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) also issued a statement on social media taking Trump administration officials to task for downplaying the seriousness of what was discussed in the group chat.
"It is outrageous to suggest that what was shared on this Signal text chain was not classified material. We are talking about an attack on another country and the possible endangerment of the men and women in the United States' military.
"This is a serious life and death matter and should be treated as such. I believe that DNI Director Gabbard and CIA Director Ratcliffe intentionally misled Congress yesterday in trying to make us believe that this was a casual conversation.
"This was a war plan, and American lives were at risk. We should deal with it in that seriousness. This matter must be investigated by the Department of Justice. To dismiss it, as the President tried yesterday, is incredible and not fair to our men and women in uniform."
U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Illinois) said the lack of care involving the group chat was reflective of the people President Trump chose for key positions.
"Look — anyone else of lower rank would be out by now," Quigley said. "This is inexcusable. This is what happens when you put inexperienced, frankly, sycophants in charge of the military and intelligence community."
U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Illinois) spoke at the House Intelligence Committee hearing Wednesday, and called for Hegseth's resignation.
"This text message is clearly classified information. Secretary Hegseth has disclosed military plans, as well as classified information," Krishnamoorthi said. "He needs to resign immediately."
Krishnamoorthi, a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee, said the use of a platform like Signal for a group chat about such sensitive matters was especially disturbing.
"Our personal phones are constantly being targeted, so for these folks to be using an unauthorized messaging platform on their personal device to transmit or convey classified information is extremely dangerous — especially given that at least one of the participants was actually in Moscow, where the Russians are constantly monitoring communications," he said.
U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Illinois) called for Hegseth to resign back on Monday, before the additional messages were published.
President Trump said Tuesday that he would "look into" whether administration officials should continue using the encrypted messaging app to communicate, but largely dismissed the severity of the leak.
When asked if he still believed nothing classified was shared, President Trump said Wednesday: "Well, that's what I've heard. I don't know. I'm not sure. You'll have to ask the various people involved. I really don't know."
On Thursday afternoon, Krishnamoorthi and several other local leaders staged what they call a "rally to resign" in the Loop.
"While our servicemembers prepared to attack, our secretary of defense sent a message that could have been intercepted by adversaries that are actively targeting unsecured communications like these," Krishnamoorthi said Thursday, "and if they had penetrated that chat, Secretary Hegseth could have cost American servicemembers their lives."
U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Illinois) also spoke at the rally Thursday.
"I am so delighted that Illinois has someone in Congress on the Intelligence Committee who knows what intelligence is, and who knows what it means to protect a nation," said Davis.
Demi Palecek, president of the 46th Ward Democrats and a veteran herself, also spoke, as did Chicago Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th). Several members of the group Ilinois Veterans for Change were in attendance.
Meanwhile in Washington, a federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to preserve all messages on the bombings in Yemen that were shared on the messaging app Signal.
