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CV NEWS FEED // Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard firmly denied Tuesday that any classified material was shared in a leaked Signal group chat discussing US airstrikes on Houthi militants in Yemen.
“There was no classified material that was shared in that chat,” Gabbard told Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA, during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe backed Gabbard’s statement.
The Signal chat included 18 Trump administration officials. Among them were Gabbard, Ratcliffe, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.
The thread, used to discuss the March 15 strikes ahead of time, came under scrutiny after Atlantic Editor Jeffrey Goldberg was mistakenly included in the discussion.
Goldberg later claimed the chat revealed “war sequencing, the attack sequence, weapons packages, targets, all that sort of things,” though he declined to publish specifics, citing national security concerns.
Ratcliffe admitted that Goldberg’s inclusion was “not appropriate” and said he had “seen conflicting reports” about who added the journalist. While many have speculated Waltz was to blame, no confirmation has been made.
The White House dismissed the controversy as politically driven.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called Goldberg “well-known for his sensationalist spin” on social media Tuesday, adding that “no ‘war plans’ were discussed” and “no classified material was sent to the thread.”
President Donald Trump has stood by Waltz during the ongoing controversy, telling an NBC reporter that his adviser “has learned a lesson” and is “a good man.” Trump emphasized that Goldberg’s brief presence in the chat had “no effect” on the successful mission.
FBI Director Kash Patel told senators that he had been briefed on the incident but declined to confirm whether the FBI has launched an investigation yet.
Sens. Mike Rounds, R-SD, and Todd Young, R-IN, said they plan to raise the issue further in a closed-door session with intelligence officials.
