Senate Democrats clash with Trump’s intelligence officials over war plans group chat

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The Trump administration's top intelligence officials testified in a hearing Tuesday after a security breach involving the mistaken leak of attack plans to a journalist.

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00:00You are the CIA director, okay?

00:10This has happened.

00:12We know it's happened.

00:15Did Jeff Goldberg somehow, was it a, did he create a hoax that allowed him to become part

00:22of this signal thread?

00:24Please answer the question.

00:26You don't, don't, don't insult the intelligence of the American people.

00:32Did he invite himself to the signal thread?

00:36I don't know how he was invited, but clearly he was added.

00:41Clearly it was, finish your sentence, please.

00:46Clearly he was added to the signal group.

00:50You don't know that the president's national security advisor invited him to join the signal

00:59thread?

01:00Everybody in America knows that.

01:01Does the CIA director not know that?

01:03I've seen conflicting reports about who added the reporter to the signal messaging group.

01:11You think it's perfectly appropriate that there was a reporter added, especially one

01:16that the, that the secretary of defense says is deceitful, highly discredited, a so-called

01:22journalist who's made a profession of peddling hoaxes over and over again.

01:26Do you, is your testimony that it was appropriate that he was added to this signal thread?

01:32No, of course not.

01:33And why, why did you not call him, you are the, you answered the question.

01:41Let me ask you.

01:43When he was added to the thread, you're the CIA director.

01:47Why didn't you call out that his, he was present on the signal thread?

01:53I don't know if you use signal messaging app.

01:55I do.

01:56I do.

01:57Not for classified information, not for targeting, not for anything remote.

02:01Neither do I, Senator.

02:02Neither do I, Senator.

02:03Well, that's what your testimony is today.

02:05It absolutely is not, Senator.

02:07Were you not listening at the beginning when I said that I was using it as permitted and

02:13that it is permissible to use?

02:14I agree that's your testimony.

02:15Yeah.

02:16I agree that's your testimony.

02:17You asked me if I use it.

02:18And I said, not for targeting, not for classified information.

02:22And I said, I don't either.

02:23I also know Jeff Goldberg.

02:26I don't use it to, to, to communicate with him.

02:30But you thought it was appropriate.

02:32Well, are you going to give me a chance to?

02:34Is it appropriate?

02:35Did you know that the president's Middle East advisor was in Moscow on this thread

02:44while you were, as director of the CIA, participating in this, in this thread?

02:50Were you aware of that?

02:53Are you aware of that today?

02:55I'm not aware of that today.

02:56This sloppiness, this incompetence, this disrespect for our intelligence agencies and the personnel

03:04who work for them is entirely unacceptable.

03:08It's an embarrassment.

03:09Senator, you need to do better.

03:14You need to do better.

03:17I'm being gaveled.

03:18I'll start with Ms. Gabbard.

03:22In this signal chain that we have been talking about, was there any mention of a target in

03:28Yemen?

03:29I don't remember mention of specific targets.

03:33Any generic target?

03:37I believe there was discussion around targets in general.

03:43Mr. Ratcliffe.

03:46I think that's consistent with my recollection.

03:48Again, I don't have access to that.

03:51The deliberation as to whether or not we should launch a strike on another country, would

03:58you consider that classified information, Ms. Gabbard?

04:04The information was not classified.

04:08This is, I'm not talking about this.

04:10I'm just talking about deliberation from principals as to whether or not we should launch a strike

04:19on another country.

04:20Would you consider that classified information?

04:22I'm not talking about what happened this week.

04:25There are other factors that would go into determining that classification.

04:29Mr. Ratcliffe, the deliberation between principals in our national security apparatus about whether

04:35or not to strike another country, would you consider that to be classified information?

04:39Predecisional strike deliberation should be conducted through classified channels.

04:46Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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