Dems demand accountability from White House after Yemen group chat bombshell

WASHINGTON (CN) — Lawmakers slammed the Donald Trump administration on Monday for what they called a “shocking and dangerous” security failure after a bombshell report revealed a journalist was inadvertently added to a group chat in which senior White House officials discussed plans for U.S. military strikes on Yemen.

And members of Congress, particularly Democrats, are calling for a full-scale investigation into how the editor-in-chief of a major publication was looped in to the national security planning session, during which officials divulged sensitive national security information.

The White House has already acknowledged the veracity of The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg’s Monday report, in which he revealed that national security adviser Michael Waltz mistakenly included him in a group chat on encrypted messaging platform Signal days before the March 15 strikes in Yemen.

According to Goldberg, the group chat’s members — which included Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe — weighed their options for acting against the Houthis and shared classified information as the operation progressed.

No group members appeared to notice that a journalist had been added to the Signal chat, which Goldberg noted could have violated federal law against divulging national security information using a service not approved by the government for such a purpose. Goldberg left the group following the March 15 strike. None of the senior White House officials followed up with him about his identity, he said.

The Atlantic’s revelations sparked outrage from members of Congress on Monday. Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal called the security breach “appalling.”

“Teenagers making plans for a Saturday night mix up group text chains — the National Security Advisor and Secretary of Defense discussing mission details where American lives might be at risk cannot,” Blumenthal wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “This shocking and dangerous failure to maintain operational security demands accountability.”

The Connecticut Democrat called on Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker, the Republican chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, to convene a hearing and called on other GOP lawmakers to condemn Hegseth’s actions.

Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed, the Armed Services Committee’s Democratic ranking member, said in a statement that he would “immediately” seek answers from the White House on why its officials used a Signal group to plan a military operation.

“If true, this story represents one of the most egregious failures of operational security and common sense I have ever seen,” said Reed.

Wicker has yet to make a public statement about The Atlantic’s revelations.

Speaking on the Senate floor on Monday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer alluded to Hillary Clinton’s infamous email scandal as he called on Democrats and Republicans to demand accountability from the White House on this latest security breach.

“If you were up in arms over unsecure emails years ago, you should certainly be outraged by this amateurish behavior,” Schumer said.

As a presidential candidate in 2016, Clinton faced scrutiny over her use of a private email server for official business while serving as President Barack Obama’s secretary of state. At the time, Republicans accused her of carelessness and argued that sensitive information could have fallen into the wrong hands.

Schumer made a similar argument on Monday as he slammed the Trump administration’s use of the Signal group.

“It is bad enough that a private citizen was added to this chain, but it is far worse that sensitive military information was exchanged on an unauthorized application, especially when that sensitive military information was so important,” said the Democratic leader. “If these detailed exchanges about coordinating military operations fell into the hands of America’s enemies, it could get people killed.”

At least one Republican has publicly criticized the Trump administration for its group chat use.

“Classified information should not be transmitted on unsecured channels — and certainly not to those without security clearances, including reporters,” said New York Representative Mike Lawler. “Period.”

In an X post, Lawler said the administration should implement safeguards to ensure that “this never happens again.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Monday dodged questions from reporters about the bombshell story, saying lawmakers were “just finding out about it.”

“Obviously, we’ve got to run it to the ground and figure out what went on there,” he said.

And House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that the Trump administration had “acknowledged that it was a mistake” and that the White House would “tighten up” to prevent such a security breach from happening again.

Trump, meanwhile, claimed on Monday not to know anything about the Signal group in which his top officials planned this month’s strikes in Yemen. The White House has said that the messages published by The Atlantic were authentic.

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