The Trump administration is dismissing Democratic calls for an investigation into what many are now calling “Signalgate” with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt telling reporters it’s time to move on this week.
At issue is the accidental sharing of Defense Department plans for the bombing of Houthi rebels in Yemen with the chief editor of The Atlantic last month. It was done via a chat app called Signal.
We asked Congressman Bill Huizenga for his take on the matter, and he says it’s obvious someone dropped the ball.
“I don’t care whether they were talking about lunch plans, I have no idea why anyone would have added a reporter or an unknown number to a chat like that,” Huizenga said. “That to me is a mistake certainly. The question is was it classified material or was it sensitive information?”
Huizenga says he gets briefings from the Committee on Foreign Affairs each week, and he’s always careful to find out what’s actually classified and what’s merely sensitive. He says that sensitive information also shouldn’t be advertised, but it’s not as critical as information that’s classified.
Looking at Signalgate, Huizenga says it appears the bombing plans weren’t classified. However, He says he’s betting defense officials have changed how they communicate behind the scenes since the Signal screw up was revealed.
