In rare indications of anxiety, Republican senators are calling for an investigation into the leaked signal scandal and the demands from the Trump administration.
“This is what happens when you don’t actually have what you do together,” Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski told Hill.
The Trump administration faces criticism from Democrats after Monday’s embarrassing revelation that a team of senior national security officials accidentally added journalists to a private group chat on Signal, a encrypted messaging app. The group, including Vice President J.D. Vance Vance, Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegses, Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and others, discussed sensitive plans to engage in military strikes over targets of Hooty in Yemen.
On Wednesday morning, the Atlantic posted another tranche of messages containing details of the attack on Yemen, including a description of the target, startup times and weather during the attack.
Senior national security officials testified before the Senate Intelligence Email Committee on Tuesday. There, Tarshi Gabbard, head of the National Intelligence Report, and John Ratcliffe, director of the CIA, were burned by lawmakers in the scandal. National security authorities said they were shared in the chat that “no material was classified.” Republicans are also currently seeking an investigation.
Reports from the Hill show Republican senators are calling for various committees to investigate leaks, including the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Intelligence Email Committee. Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, who chairs the Armed Services Committee, told Hill he would ask Department of Defense inspectors to investigate the scandal.
Mike Waltz, a national security adviser who reportedly added Goldberg to the group chat, took “all responsibility” for the leak in his Fox News appearance on Tuesday night. However, he didn’t explain how the leak happened, destroying Goldberg and calling him the “bottom of a journalist.” During his TV appearance, Waltz said he had started a signal group chat but unconsciously added a contact with Goldberg’s number.
“Of course I didn’t see this loser in the group. It looked like someone else,” he said, denying that the staff were responsible.
What is a signal?
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Signal is a messaging app founded in 2012 that allows users to send text, photos, videos and documents and create audio and video calls. Use end-to-end encryption. This protects messages against hackers and cyber attacks through an extra layer of security. Several other privacy features, including the ability to automatically delete messages, have made it more frequent and sensitive information available to communities such as journalists and activists.
Signals are run by a non-profit Signal Foundation, relying on donations to functions, providing a different business model than other encrypted messaging services such as Meta-owned WhatsApp. It does not track user data to the same extent as META, and publishes the code to allow for public auditing of security measures. Signal, like any messaging app, remains vulnerable to human error through methods such as phishing attacks and spyware that allow hackers to access the user’s devices. The president of Signal Foundation called the addition of Atlantic’s editor-in-chief a user error rather than an issue with app security.
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Tensions are rising among Republicans as the party’s two wings are split over what should happen in the waltz, according to a report from Politico.
On the one hand, traditional Hawkish Republicans see the waltz as a powerful tool to drive Trump officials into more aggressive foreign policy, and defend him in his place in power. Meanwhile, Trump Republicans like Vance are opposed to Hawkish’s approach to foreign policy. For now, Waltz’s position appears to be safe, with Donald Trump calling Waltz a “very good guy.”
Despite the outlook for the Congressional investigation, Waltz and Trump contradict each other in separate interviews, and there are still important questions left unanswered about the leak. Waltz on Tuesday said staff were not responsible for the leak.
“Look, I took full responsibility and built the group,” Waltz said. However, Trump suggested against it during the interview.
“It’s someone who was on the line with permission, someone who worked with Mike Waltz on a lower level, someone who called through Goldberg’s numbers and apps, and I believe somehow this guy answered the phone,” Trump said. His statement was unknown as Atlantic journalists were added to text chats rather than phone calls.
The use of signals for internal government debate has also been raised question. Surveillance, a nonprofit organization, sued members of the Trump administration on Tuesday afternoon, saying that the use of the app violated federal records laws. The organization is asking federal courts to order officials to keep a message “to prevent illegal destruction of federal records.”
