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The Senate hearing was supposed to be about global threats to the US, but the hearing became about the domestic threat posed by Trump officials to national security after they leaked military airstrikes in Yemen to a journalist over a non-secured platform.
The administration officials testifying at the hearing were unapologetic, and when Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) asked CIA Director Ratcliffe if the breach was a big mistake, and Ratcliffe answered no, Ossoff had enough and said:
No, no. You hold on. Lemme answer. No, no. I asked yes or no question and now you’ll hold on. A national political reporter was made privy. The White House to sensitive information about imminent military operations against a foreign terrorist organization is a mistake of adding a reporter.
And, and that wasn’t a huge mistake to mistake. That wasn’t a huge mistake. Well, I think the, they characterize embarrassment. 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.
Video of Ossoff:
The Trump administration officials appear to have lied during the hearing and they refuse to apologize or admit that anything has gone wrong. The Signal chat was a national security risk, because the Pentagon one week earlier had issued a warning about security vulnerabilities in Signal and said that it should not be used. Yet, here were the top Trump administration officials all on a Signal chat together give military plans to reporter who they did not know was in the chat.
This is something that should be a national scandal, and should cost people their jobs. There was even a member of the Trump administration in Russia on the Signal chat.
It is a story that keeps getting worse and people like Sen. Ossoff are doing their part to hold Trump officials accountable.
What did you think about Sen. Ossoff’s comments? Join the conversation by leaving a comment below.
