Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) implied there are more important topics to discuss at Tuesday’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing than the recent group chat between senior Trump officials that accidentally included a lone journalist.
The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was added to a group chat via the encrypted Signal app that included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, national security adviser Mike Waltz, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. The chat included key details about the recent strikes in Yemen against the Houthis two hours before they occurred. Over 30 Houthi rebels were killed as a result of the strikes.
“Obviously, the group chat that was in the news yesterday will be discussed, but I hope the focus of the hearing remains the topic of the meeting, which is worldwide threats. I commend the Trump administration’s intelligence leaders for focusing on those threats,” Cotton said on Fox News’s Fox and Friends Tuesday. “There’s no question that yesterday’s news will come up, I suspect, but I do hope the focus of the hearing remains on the threats that America faces and the actions we need to take to deter the threats.”
Cotton lamented that this is the first hearing after four years of reports on “climate change or green energy” under the Biden administration. According to the senator, this latest story just furthers the popularity of Signal, which senators already use to “speak to their aides.”
While rumors swirl that Waltz could lose his job as he was the one to let Goldberg into the chat, President Donald Trump has chalked up the incident to a lesson “learned” by the adviser, who will likely keep his job. Cotton echoed the president.
JEFFREY GOLDBERG SAYS HEGSETH LIED IN DISMISSING INTELLIGENCE LEAK
“I agree with the president and think Michael Waltz and Pete Hegseth and the whole national security team is doing a great job as evidenced by the campaign against the outlaw rebels in Yemen over the last two weeks,” Cotton said. “The president took decisive action in contrast to Joe Biden, who let our sailors hang out in the Red Sea like sitting ducks for 15 months.”
The U.S. destroyed several missiles belonging to the Houthis and 36 of its stockpiles with the help of the United Kingdom last year. Prior to U.S. retaliation, the Houthis appeared to be poised to attack Navy ships in the area.