Access the White House Watch newsletter at no cost
Your comprehensive look at the implications of the 2024 US election for Washington and globally
Donald Trump has supported Mike Waltz, his national security adviser, as the White House grapples with an escalating controversy involving disclosures that high-ranking officials had deliberated on sensitive US military strategies in Yemen using a Signal group chat.
In an interview with NBC News on Tuesday, the US president stated, “Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man.”
Trump remarked that the Signal chat, which included discussions about air strikes on the Houthis this month that Waltz inadvertently shared with a journalist, was merely “the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one.”
Waltz is under increasing scrutiny to resign following the scandal linked to the Signal chat, although Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has also faced criticism for sharing detailed operation plans against the Houthis on that same platform.
JD Vance, the US vice-president, was among those in the Signal chat and described the military actions as a “mistake,” asserting they served as a rescue for Europe.
The uproar surrounding the conversation has taken Washington by surprise and embarrassed the Trump administration, as it revealed the careless manner in which top officials were engaging in discussions about extremely sensitive national security matters through an unofficial messaging tool.
It remains uncertain whether US law enforcement agencies will pursue an investigation into the breach or if any members of the administration will face consequences.
On Tuesday morning, leading US intelligence officials, including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and FBI Director Kash Patel, faced tough questioning from Democrats at the Senate Intelligence Committee regarding the incident.
Democrat Mark Warner, vice-chair of the committee, characterized the situation as “another example of . . . sloppy, careless, incompetent behaviour, particularly regarding classified information.” He emphasized that “this is not an isolated incident or a first-time mistake.”
He further remarked: “It’s astonishing to me that all these senior officials were part of this conversation, and no one thought to check who else was included. Basic security hygiene 1.0.1. Who are all the names? Who are they?”
Warner pointed out: “If this had been a military officer or an intelligence officer exhibiting this kind of behaviour, they would be fired.”
Gabbard downplayed the incident, asserting, “There was no classified information in that Signal group chat,” as did Ratcliffe, who stated, “My communications . . . in a Signal message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include any classified information.”
He added that the use of Signal had received approval at the highest levels and was never intended to replace more secure messaging platforms.
“The national security adviser aimed for this to be a way to coordinate among senior-level officials, not a stand-in for using classified communications for anything that was classified,” he explained.
The White House has attempted to downplay the unfolding scandal. In a statement on X, press secretary Karoline Leavitt asserted, “No ‘war plans’ were discussed” and “No classified material was sent to the thread.”
She continued, indicating that the White House Counsel’s Office had “provided guidance on a range of platforms for President Trump’s top officials to communicate as safely and efficiently as possible.”
