Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) has slapped Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA director John Ratcliffe with a scathing assessment, saying they “lied” under oath while denying classified information was shared in the Signal group chat containing a journalist.
The hearing came after The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg dropped an article Monday reporting how Trump National Security Adviser Mike Waltz accidentally added him to a group chat in which the principals committee – the heads of the top American national security agencies — discussed plans to strike Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Warner, the top Democrat on the committee, clashed publicly during the hearing with Gabbard and Ratcliffe after their denials that the strike plans outlined in the group chat, in which they were both participants, were classified.
On Wednesday, after repeated denials from those involved in the chat, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and White House attacks on his character, Goldberg published a follow-up article including more of the chat logs to prove sensitive information was discussed both before and as the attack unfolded.
Warner was on panel at MSNBC’s Morning Joe Wednesday as Goldberg’s follow-up dropped, with The Atlantic editor joining the team on air.
After justifying his decision to publish the chat logs, host Mika Brzezinski turned to Warner: “Senator, do these text messages that are now released by The Atlantic, by Jeffrey’s reporting, answer some of the questions that you couldn’t get answers to yesterday?”
Warner replied:
Well, it sure answers the question that the two witnesses, I believe, lied when they said: ‘Oh, nothing to see here, nothing classified.’
One of the witnesses tried to hedge a little bit later about, well, this may be defense classified, but you would have to be an idiot not to understand what Jeffrey just laid out is at a huge classification level that if it had fallen into enemy hands and the Houthis had been able to realign their offenses, American lives could be lost.
He continued, lambasting the Trump administration for what he said were repeated and similar instances of incompetency:
And the reason why I say it’s a pattern, in the first two weeks of the administration, they inadvertently released the names of 200 new CIA agents. Those individuals, if their identities are known, they can’t be put into the field now. That’s hundreds of thousands of dollars of training beyond screwing up those people’s lives.
There’s not a day that goes by that you guys don’t report another one of the DOGE boys in one of classified agencies giving up personal information.
This is a pattern of sloppiness and incompetence that I think reflects this administration’s approach, at least towards sensitive information.
Watch above via MSNBC.
More on the Trump Admin War Plan Leak:
- The Atlantic Publishes Trump Attack Plans After Administration Denies Group Chat
- Trump Just Handed His Biggest Enemy in Media a Slam Dunk
- But How Did It End Up In Your Phone?’ Laura Ingraham Grills Trump NatSec Advisor Over Leak ‘That’s a Pretty Big Problem’
- Jeffrey Goldberg Says He’s Considering Releasing More of Signal Chat — As Trump Officials Deny Under Oath That It Was Classified
- JD Vance Criticizes Trump in Leaked War Plans Group Chat: ‘Not Sure the President Is Aware How Inconsistent This Is’
- Trump Officials Stumped At Hearing When Asked If Goldberg Can Post Bombshell Texts Since They Claim No Classified Info
The post ‘The Two Witnesses Lied’: Senator Says Leaked Atlantic Texts at ‘Huge Classification Level’ first appeared on Mediaite.
