Senior GOP figures warn of potential ‘significant political problem’ for Trump administration in rare sign of unrest
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In rare signs of unrest, top Republican senators are calling for an investigation into the Signal leak scandal and demanding answers from the Trump administration, as they raise concerns it will become a “significant political problem” if not addressed properly.
“This is what happens when you don’t really have your act together,” the Alaska Republican senator Lisa Murkowski told the Hill.
The Trump administration has been facing criticism from Democrats – and now Republicans – after Monday’s embarrassing revelation that a team of senior national security officials accidentally added a journalist to a private group chat on Signal, an encrypted messaging app. The group, which included JD Vance, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and others, discussed sensitive plans to engage in military strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
Democrats demand answers over White House’s ‘careless’ Signal blunderRead moreOn Wednesday, morning the Atlantic posted another tranche of messages that contained details of the attack on Yemen, including descriptions of targets, launch times and even the details of weather during the assault.
Senior national security officials testified before the Senate intelligence committee on Tuesday, where the national intelligence director, Tulsi Gabbard, and CIA director, John Ratcliffe, were grilled by lawmakers over the scandal. The national security officials said “no classified material” had been shared in the chat. Republicans are now calling for investigations, as well.
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According to reporting from the Hill, top Republican senators are calling for various committees to investigate the leak, including the Senate armed services committee and the Senate intelligence committee. The Mississippi senator Roger Wicker, who chairs the armed services committee, told the Hill he would be asking the defense department’s inspector general to investigate the scandal.
The national security adviser, Mike Waltz, who reportedly added Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of the Atlantic, to the group chat, took “full responsibility” for the leak on a Tuesday night Fox News appearance. However, he did not describe how the leak happened and trashed Goldberg, calling him “the bottom-scum of journalists”. During his television appearance, Waltz said he started the Signal group chat but unknowingly added a contact that happened to have Goldberg’s number.
“Of course I didn’t see this loser in the group, it looked like someone else,” he said.
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Tensions are rising among Republicans, with the two wings of the party divided on what should happen with Waltz, according to reporting from Politico.
On the one hand, traditional, hawkish Republicans see Waltz as a strong vehicle to push Trump officials towards a more aggressive foreign policy, and advocate for him to stay in the administration. On the other hand, Trumpian Republicans like Vance oppose the hawkish approach to foreign policy. Waltz’s position, for now, seems to be safe, with Donald Trump calling Waltz a “very good man”.
Despite the prospect of congressional investigations, there are still significant questions left unanswered about the leak, with Waltz and Trump contradicting each other in separate interviews. Waltz on Tuesday said that a staffer had been not responsible for the leak.
Newly shared Signal messages show Trump advisers discussed Yemen attack plansRead more“Look, I take full responsibility, I built the group,” Waltz said. But Trump suggested the opposite during an interview.
“What it was, we believe, is somebody that was on the line with permission, somebody that worked with Mike Waltz at a lower level, had Goldberg’s number or call through the app, and somehow this guy ended up on the call,” Trump said. His statements were unclear, since the Atlantic journalist had been added to a text chat, not a phone call.
The use of Signal for internal government discussions has also been called into question. A non-profit organization, American Oversight, sued members of the Trump administration on Tuesday afternoon, saying the app’s use violated the Federal Records Act. The organization is requesting that a federal court order the officials to preserve the messages “to prevent the unlawful destruction of federal records”.
Trump said on Wednesday afternoon during wide-ranging remarks at the White House as he announced new tariffs, about the Signal group chat scandal: “I think it’s all a witch-hunt.” He added that Signal could be a “defective” platform and said it was “not very good”.
The secretary of state Marco Rubio also weighed in while on a visit to Jamaica.
Talking to reporters in Kingston, he said of the chat group: “Someone made a big mistake and added a journalist.”
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting
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