WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., stood behind the Trump administration Wednesday and said people should be grateful for the current national security team in place, as the nation’s capital is reacting to a journalist being added to a Signal group chat that included talk of military plans for an attack on Yemen’s Houthis.
The Atlantic published more messages Wednesday from the Signal group chat that detailed military attack plans, including the timing of warplane launches, from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hours before the attack occurred.
Tuberville, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has downplayed the national security leak saying he was “confident” the Trump administration will get to the bottom of how a journalist was added to the chat.
“We should all be grateful that President Trump and his national security team that we have now is in charge, and they will put America first,” Tuberville told reporters. “So it’s unfortunate this happened, but we’re going to get on with life and again, by the way, the Houthi strikes were very, very successful and effective.”
In the original Atlantic story, where editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg revealed he was added to the group chat about the attacks, some of the message transcripts were withheld to protect national security. However, after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and President Donald Trump asserted that the material in the messages wasn’t classified, the Atlantic published more content from the chat. The messages did not contain information about specific targets.
U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, a former member of the Intelligence Committee, said she was “horrified” about the messages in the Signal chat and said they put military personnel in jeopardy.
“Americans put their trust in our leaders to exercise the utmost care when dealing with matters of national security,” Sewell said in a statement. “I seriously question the judgement and capacity of these Trump officials to inform and implement our national security policy.”
Gabbard and Ratcliffe testified about the leak during pre-planned appearances before the House and Senate Intelligence committees this week on worldwide threats. During a hearing Wednesday, Gabbard called it a “mistake” that a journalist was inadvertently added to the group chat.
“The conversation was candid and sensitive, but as the president and national security adviser stated, no classified information was shared,” Gabbard said. “There were no sources, methods, locations or war plans that were shared.”
Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, also argued in a post on X that “no classified information was shared.” He also touted the Trump administration in a post that said it is “well-coordinated and focused on their mission to institute peace through strength.”
House Democrats pushed back against those assertions that the messages did not include classified information.
“This is classified information,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-IL, during Wednesday’s hearing. “It’s a weapon system as well as sequence of strikes as well as details about the operations.”
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-MS, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and the committee’s top Democrat are planning to request an inspector general report on the Signal leak, the Associated Press reported.
While Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Saks, chair of the House Armed Services Committee, has been quieter about the situation. House Democrats on the Armed Services Committee sent a letter to Rogers asking for him to call Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to testify during a hearing on the leak.
“The Committee has already scheduled Secretary Hegseth to testify on the FY26 budget in May and members will have the opportunity to ask any questions they have at that time,” a spokesperson for the committee said in a statement in response to the letter.
Tuberville said he wasn’t supportive of bringing a national security leader in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee to testify on the Signal chat.
“I didn’t say there shouldn’t be an investigation, but I’m not for bringing somebody up and scolding them in front of a national audience,” Tuberville told Alabama Daily News this week.
Rep. Dale Strong, R-Huntsville, who is on the House Homeland Security Committee, declined to comment on the Signal leak.
Hegseth is currently on a trip through the Indo-Pacific region and has continued to say the messages in the Signal group did not include “war plans.”