On Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe were evasive during a Senate hearing that focused on their roles in the Trump administration’s scandal involving sensitive military information that was inadvertently shared with The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg.
Democrats were most apoplectic over Gabbard’s and Ratcliffe’s insistence that no classified information had been shared in the group chat on the Signal app, which Goldberg said had involved “precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing” and had included Gabbard and Ratcliffe, along with Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and national security adviser Mike Waltz.
Democrats were most apoplectic over Gabbard’s and Ratcliffe’s insistence that no classified information had been shared.
While Republicans largely avoided the disturbing report in their questioning, Democrats leaped at what was the first opportunity to question Trump officials at length about the scandal. And it was clarifying because it showed Trump officials’ eagerness to evade questions in the face of accountability.
“I haven’t participated in any Signal group messaging that relates to any classified information at all,” Ratcliffe proclaimed at one point.
Gabbard, who initially wouldn’t even say whether she was on the thread, eventually stated that “there was no classified material that was shared” in the group chat. Gabbard, who conceded she had been abroad during at least some of the discussions, refused to say whether she was using a personal phone or a work-issued one at the time.
In one telling exchange, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., tried to dangle a lifeline to the officials.
“They testified, is my understanding — correct me if I’m wrong — that there’s no intelligence community classified information: Is that correct?” Cotton said. Gabbard and Ratcliffe both said that was correct, but Sen. Angus King quickly interjected.
“That’s not correct: She said repeatedly there was nothing classified,” the Maine Democrat said. “Period.”
Watch the exchange here:
For the record, Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., made the point that even if there technically wasn’t classified information involved — and it certainly seems like there may have been — that the thread may have run afoul of Department of Defense rules barring discussion of “controlled unclassified information” on unsecured devices. Essentially, that’s information that hasn’t been approved for public release.
Remarkably, Ratcliffe said he wasn’t familiar with the policy, while Gabbard said she hadn’t read it. Gabbard said the intelligence community has a similar policy but wouldn’t say whether the publicly disclosed information would’ve been allowed for release under that policy “because of the nature of a private discussion that took place between individual leaders in our government.” Remarkably, Ratcliffe said he wasn’t familiar with the policy, while Gabbard said she hadn’t read it. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also maintained Tuesday that no classified material had been sent to the thread. But Democrats, who repeatedly demanded that Gabbard and Ratcliffe release the contents of the thread publicly if there was no sensitive information, aren’t going to simply take the administration at its word. “This is an embarrassment,” said Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga. “This is utterly unprofessional. There’s been no apology, there has been no recognition of the gravity of this error. And by the way, we will get the full transcript of this chain and your testimony will be measured carefully against its content.” I found Ossoff’s grilling of Ratcliffe worth a watch. Check it out: CORRECTION (March 25, 2025, 9:43 p.m. ET): A previous version of this post misstated the first name of the CIA director. He is John Ratcliffe, not Michael Ratcliffe.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
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