{"id":26900,"date":"2025-03-25T14:25:16","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T18:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&p=26900"},"modified":"2025-03-25T14:25:16","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T18:25:16","slug":"watch-sen-ossoff-presses-trump-administration-officials-on-signal-chat-scandal","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/watch-sen-ossoff-presses-trump-administration-officials-on-signal-chat-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"WATCH: Sen. Ossoff Presses Trump Administration Officials on Signal Chat Scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

WATCH: Sen. Ossoff\u2019s full line of questioning<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington, D.C. \u2014 <\/strong>U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff, a member of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, today pressed Trump Administration officials on the recent Signal chat scandal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, in a U.S. Senate Intelligence Hearing, Sen. Ossoff pressed CIA Director John Ratcliffe on senior U.S. national security officials discussing sensitive information about imminent military operations against a foreign terrorist organization on an unsecure messaging platform, putting servicemembers and our nation’s security at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his questioning, Sen. Ossoff pressed Director Ratcliffe on the details of the Signal conversations, to which Ratcliffe repeatedly said he did not recall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Ossoff later asked Director Ratcliffe and Director Timothy D. Haugh of the National Security Agency\/Central Security Service whether or not a discussion by senior U.S. officials on the timing and risks of a proposed military campaign and disagreements between the President and the Vice President about U.S. policy and planning would be of obvious interest to foreign intelligence services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both said yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Ossoff finally asked Director Ratcliffe if  \u201cthis was a huge mistake,\u201d to which Ratcliffe replied, \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here to watch Sen. Ossoff\u2019s line of questioning<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Please find a transcript of Sen. Ossoff\u2019s line of questioning below:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF: <\/strong>\u201cThank you, Mr. Chairman and thank you all for joining us and for your service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust to make sure I understand some of the basics here. So, Director Ratcliffe, you were a member of the Houthi PC small group signal chain, correct?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DIR. RATCLIFFE:<\/strong> \u201cI was.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF:<\/strong> \u201cYeah, and so were the Vice President, the Secretaries of State and Defense, the National Security Advisor and Ms. Gabbard, correct?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DIR. RATCLIFFE:<\/strong> \u201cI believe so. I don’t have a list of who was invited to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF:<\/strong> \u201cSo, and so was national political reporter Jeffrey Goldberg, correct?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DIR. RATCLIFFE:<\/strong> \u201cI don’t know that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF: <\/strong>\u201cYes, you do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DIR. RATCLIFFE:<\/strong> \u201cI don’t know Jeffrey Goldberg. And I’ve already testified, I don’t know whether or how he was added.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF: <\/strong>\u201cOkay, well, he was a member of the signal chain, and the discussion included the Vice President’s private opinion on the wisdom of proposed U.S. strikes in Yemen, correct?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DIR. RATCLIFFE: <\/strong>\u201cI don’t recall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF: <\/strong>\u201cVance: ‘I think we are making a mistake. I am not sure the President is aware of how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now. There is a strong argument for delaying this a month.’ <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don’t recall?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DIR. RATCLIFFE:<\/strong> \u201cI don’t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF:<\/strong> “You don’t recall seeing that?” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

DIR. RATCLIFFE:<\/strong> \u201cAs you read that, I don’t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF:<\/strong> \u201cIt included the private opinions of the Secretary of Defense on the timing of strikes in Yemen, correct?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DIR. RATCLIFFE:<\/strong> \u201cI don’t recall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF:<\/strong> \u201cDirector Ratcliffe, surely you prepared for this hearing today. You are part of a group of principals, senior echelons of the U.S. government, and now a widely publicized breach of sensitive information. You don’t recall whether the Vice President opined on the wisdom of the strikes, that’s your testimony today under oath?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DIR. RATCLIFFE:<\/strong> \u201cIn that setting, I don’t recall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF:<\/strong> \u201cHere’s what Secretary Hegseth said. ‘Waiting a few weeks or months does not fundamentally change the calculus. Two immediate risks on waiting. One, this leaks and we look indecisive. Two, Israel takes an action first, or Gaza cease fire falls apart, and we don’t get to start this on our own terms.’ Your testimony is, you don’t recall the Secretary of Defense sending that message or reading it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DIR. RATCLIFFE:<\/strong> \u201cI recall there being an exchange. I don’t recall the specifics as you’re reading it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF:<\/strong> \u201cWell, let’s put it this way, Director Ratcliffe, a discussion by senior U.S. officials on the timing and risks of a proposed military campaign and disagreements between the President and the Vice President about U.S. plans and intentions would be of obvious interest to foreign intelligence services, would it not?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DIR. RATCLIFFE:<\/strong> :Yes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF:<\/strong> \u201cAnd they were discussing the timing of sending U.S. air crews into enemy airspace where they faced an Air Defense threat, correct?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DIR. RATCLIFFE:<\/strong> \u201cI’m going to, Senator, defer to the other principles that you were referring to about what the meaning and the context of what they were…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF:<\/strong> \u201cThey\u2019re talking about the timing of U.S. air strikes, correct?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DIR. RATCLIFFE:<\/strong> \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF: <\/strong>\u201cYes, <\/strong>and therefore, the timing of sending U.S. air crews into hostile airspace, correct?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DIR. RATCLIFFE:<\/strong> \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF:<\/strong> \u201cAnd therefore, the time period during which enemy air defenses could target U.S. air crews flying in enemy airspace, Correct?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DIR. RATCLIFFE: <\/strong>\u201cI don’t know that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF: <\/strong>\u201cYou do know that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet me ask this question, General Haugh, you lead America’s signals intelligence collection. Would the private deliberation of foreign senior officials about the wisdom and timing of potential military action be a collection priority for you and the U.S. intelligence community?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GEN. HAUGH:<\/strong> \u201cSenator, it’s our job to do indications and warning for both the plans and intentions of adversary leaders and for military commanders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF:<\/strong> \u201cAnd, would not, information about the timing of air strikes allow a military to preposition or queue air defense systems to shoot down enemy aircraft?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GEN. HAUGH:<\/strong> \u201cI think Senator, from our perspective, any advance warning is something that we certainly are trying to protect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF:<\/strong> \u201cDirector Ratcliffe, this was a huge mistake, correct?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DIR. RATCLIFFE:<\/strong> \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF: <\/strong>\u201cA national political…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DIR. RATCLIFFE: <\/strong>\u201cHold on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF:<\/strong> \u201cNo, no, you hold on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, No, Director Ratcliffe, I asked you a yes or no question, and now you\u2019ll hold on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA national political reporter was made privy…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DIR. RATCLIFFE:<\/strong> \u201cYou can characterize it how you want.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF:<\/strong> \u201cWas made privy…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DIR. RATCLIFFE:<\/strong> \u201cThe White House has made clear that it was an inadvertent mistake, an inadvertent mistake of adding a reporter to a signal…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF:<\/strong> \u201cWas made privy to sensitive information about imminent military operations against a foreign terrorist organization and that wasn’t a huge mistake? That wasn’t a huge mistake?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is an embarrassment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is utterly unprofessional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere’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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank you, Mr. Chairman.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

# # #<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WATCH: Sen. Ossoff\u2019s full line of questioning Washington, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff, a member of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, today pressed Trump Administration officials on the recent Signal chat scandal. Today, in a U.S. Senate Intelligence Hearing, Sen. Ossoff pressed CIA Director John Ratcliffe on senior U.S. national security officials discussing sensitive information […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26900","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/26900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/26900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26904,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/26900\/revisions\/26904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}