OAN Staff Blake Wolf
11:41 AM – Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Oregon Democrat Senator Ron Wyden has demanded that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth resign after a journalist from The Atlantic was mistakenly included in a group chat with administration officials.
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Jeffrey Goldberg, a journalist who serves as the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, revealed on Monday that he was inadvertently added to a Signal group chat with Trump administration officials.
Trump administration officials had been deliberating strategic military operations concerning the conflict in Yemen against the Houthis.
Within the chat, which has been confirmed to be authentic, Vice President JD Vance stated that if Hegseth believes the U.S. should strike the Houthis, then “let’s go. I just hate bailing Europe out again.”
Hegseth responded, expressing that he shares Vance’s “loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC.”
“But Mike is correct, we are the only ones on the planet (on our side of the ledger) who can do this. Nobody else even close. Question is timing. I feel like now is as good a time as any, given POTUS directive to reopen shipping lanes. I think we should go; but POTUS still retains 24 hours of decision space,” Hegseth added in the leaked messages.
The discussed strikes on the Islamic Houthis terrorists would be in response to the group’s attacks on commercial cargo ships in the Red Sea, which they claim is in retaliation to the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza.
“In the Red Sea, Iran-backed Houthi terrorists have been for years attacking U.S. ships and other nations, disrupting legal commerce for all seafaring nations,” the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) stated.
President Trump re-designated the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in January after former President Joe Biden reversed the Houthis’ designation.
“As a result of the Biden administration’s weak policy, the Houthis have fired at U.S. Navy warships dozens of times, launched numerous attacks on civilian infrastructure in partner nations, and attacked commercial vessels transiting Bab al-Mandeb more than 100 times,” the White House stated.
Wyden’s (D-Ore.) condemnation came during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, where National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard maintained that there was “no classified material” shared in the media-frenzied group chat.
“Obviously, my colleagues and I feel very strongly about the war planning meeting over unclassified phones. Obviously reckless, obviously dangerous, both the mishandling of classified information and the deliberate destruction of federal records or potential crimes that ought to be investigated immediately,” Wyden stated.
“And I want to make clear that I’m of the view that there ought to be resignations starting with the National Security Advisor and the Secretary of Defense,” he continued.
“Director Gabbard, did you participate in the group chat with Secretary of Defense and other Trump senior officials discussing the Yemen war plans?” asked Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.).
Gabbard quickly responded, stating: “There was no classified material that was shared in that.”
“So then if there [was] no classified material, share it with the committee,” Warner clapped back. “You can’t have it both ways. These are important jobs. This is our national security. Bobbing and weaving and trying to, you know, filibuster your answer. So people answer the question. Director Gabbard, if this was a rank-and-file intelligence officer who did this kind of careless behavior, what would you do with them?”
“Senator, I’ll reiterate that there was no classified material that was shared in that,” she responded, adding that the incident is currently “under review.”
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