A Senate Democrat clashed with Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard after she denied the secret war plans leaked to the editor of The Atlantic in a group chat were classified on Tuesday.
In a heated confrontation during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) tried to get an evasive Gabbard to talk about the group chat on the messaging app Signal in which The Atlantic‘s Jeffrey Goldberg was made privy to plans to strike Houthi rebels in Yemen earlier this month. Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe — two of the witnesses at Tuesday’s hearing — were both participants in the leaked group chat.
“You are not ‘TG’ on this group chat?” Warner asked Gabbard.
“I’m not going to get into the specifics of the deliberations—” Gabbard said, before Warner cut her off.
“So you refuse to acknowledge whether you are on this group chat?” Warner said.
“Senator, I’m going to not get into the specifics,” Gabbard replied.
“Why are you going to go into the specifics?” Warner shot back. “Is it because it’s all classified?”
“Because this is currently under review by the National Security Council,” Gabbard said.
“Because it’s classified? If it’s not classified, share the texts now,” Warner said.
Both Gabbard and Ratcliffe said under oath that the information in the texts was not classified.
“My communications, to be clear, in a Signal message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information,” Ratcliffe said.
“There was no classified material that was shared in that signal chat,” Gabbard added.
Warner challenged Gabbard to prove it.
“So then, if there was no classified material, share it with the committee!” Warner said. “You can’t have it both ways. These are important jobs. This is our national security! Bobbing and weaving and trying to filibuster your answer!”
The senator then asked Gabbard how she would handle a similar situation involving an underling.
“If this was rank and file intelligence officer who did this kind of careless behavior, what would you do with them?” Warner asked.
Gabbard merely repeated her stock answer.
“Senator, I’ll reiterate that there was no classified material that was shared in that Signal group,” she said.
Watch above, via MSNBC.
The post ‘Share the Texts Now!’ Senator Clashes With Tulsi Gabbard After Her Stunning Claim Leaked War Plans Weren’t Classified first appeared on Mediaite.
