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Democratic lawmakers zeroed in on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s role in a Signal group chat during a confirmation hearing for former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz to serve as ambassador to the U.N.
Waltz came under scrutiny after his team set up a Signal group chat to discuss strikes against the Houthis. A journalist from the Atlantic was accidentally included along with other top administration officials, including Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
While Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said it was an “amateurish move” for Waltz’s office to include the journalist, Kaine said that nothing indicated Waltz shared classified information in the chat.
But Kaine said there are at least two Pentagon investigations underway, one with the Pentagon inspector general and another with the Air Force, to determine whether Hegseth did disclose classified information in the chats when he discussed specific aircraft and times of the strikes.
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“They haven’t yet reached a conclusion, but they certainly haven’t reached a conclusion that no classified information is shared. Am I wrong about that?” Kaine said of the investigations.
“I shouldn’t and can’t comment on ongoing investigations,” Waltz said. “What I can do is echo Secretary Hegseth’s testimony that no names, targets, locations, units, route, sources, methods, no classified information.”
“I got it. I’m sure Secretary Hegseth says he didn’t share any classified information,” Kaine said. “But the fact of the matter is there are two investigations going on at the Pentagon precisely to determine, in an objective and independent way, whether classified information was shared and, a minimum, sharing attack plans with sensitive military information that shouldn’t have been shared.”
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Sen. Chris Coons, D-Conn., also voiced concerns about the use of the Signal group chat after Waltz doubled down on the Trump administration’s claims that no classified information was communicated over the chat.
“You were sharing details about an upcoming airstrike and the time of launch and the potential targets,” Coons said. “I mean, this was demonstrably sensitive information.”
Coons asked Waltz if the former national security advisor had spoken to Hegseth about his decision to share detailed information pertaining to the strike.
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“What we spoke about, Senator, was a highly successful mission that did something that the Biden administration did not do, (which) was actually target the Houthi leadership,” Waltz said.
Lawmakers, including Coons, voiced that they’d hoped Waltz would take ownership of what was discussed in the chat, while Waltz maintained no classified information was shared.
“I was hoping to hear from you that you had some sense of regret over sharing what was very sensitive, timely information about a military strike on a commercially available app,” Coons said. “That’s not, as we both know, the appropriate way to share such critical information.”
“Again, Senator, I think we have a fundamental disagreement, as there was no classified information on that chat,” Waltz said.
The Pentagon declined to provide comment to Fox News Digital. Waltz could not be reached for comment by Fox News Digital.
Waltz previously served as a U.S. congressman from Florida and is a retired Army National Guard colonel and former Green Beret.
President Donald Trump announced Waltz would leave his role at the White House leading the National Security Council May 1, only to reveal hours later the former Florida congressman’s nomination to represent the U.S. at the U.N.
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