WASHINGTON — As the fallout from the revelation that top national security officials discussed plans to launch attacks in Yemen over a group chat on the messaging app Signal entered its third day Wednesday, attention turned to what any potential investigations on the matter will entail.
Democratic lawmakers — who have expressed outrage about the situation since Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, published a report in which he detailed how he was accidentally added to a chat with national security officials — have been vocal in insisting an investigation is needed. Republicans have given more nuanced responses.
The chair of the upper chamber’s Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told reporters in the wake of The Atlantic report that his committee as well as its counterpart in the GOP-controlled House would be looking into the matter.
“It’s definitely a concern, and you can be sure the committee — House and Senate — will be looking into this,” Wicker told CNN, adding, “It appears that mistakes were made, no question.”
On Tuesday, The Hill reported that the Senate Armed Services Committee head is also set to call on the Defense Department’s inspector general to launch its own investigation as well.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., on Tuesday said Senate Republicans are “getting to the bottom of what that whole text chain entailed.”
“I suspect the Armed Services Committee may want to have some folks testify and have some of those questions answered,” he said at a news conference.
Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with Democrats, said he hopes Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton, R-Ark., will “follow up on this.”
Several other Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill have agreed generally that there should be probes on the matter.
“I just think there is going to have to be more investigation into the facts and circumstances,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters after earlier this week calling the situation a “huge screwup.”
“Yeah, I think there should be a look,” Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., told CNN.
Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., meanwhile, told CNN he was going to “reserve my judgment for the final blame” until a full investigation is conducted. He added that “in the meantime” the administration should “admit that it was a screwup on somebody’s part.” noting that such a discussion should not have taken place on Signal.
Others in the party have treaded carefully on the issue.
When asked about the situation at a news conference Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson referenced a recently released White House statement and praised the administration for a “successful mission” against Houthi targets in Yemen, which was what the messages were centered on.
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., said “I don’t really think so” when asked by CNN whether Congress should exercise its oversight authority over the issue.
President Donald Trump himself told reporters Tuesday “We’ll look into it,” when asked if he would launch an investigation. Asked specifically if the FBI would be tasked with such a probe, the president said: “It’s not really an FBI thing. It’s really something having to do with security.”
He then went on to say he asked his national security adviser, Mike Waltz, who appears to be the official who added the reporter to the chat, to “immediately study” the situation.
Waltz responded that the administration has its “technical experts” and “legal team” looking at it. During Wednesday’s White House news briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump adviser Elon Musk, who is unofficially leading his government downsizing campaign called the U.S. DOGE Service, has offered to enlist his technical experts.
“Elon Musk has offered to put his technical experts on this to figure out how this number was inadvertently added to the chat,” Leavitt said.
