House Democrats are planning to confront the directors of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and the Central Intelligence Agency, John Ratcliffe, on Wednesday. The reason for this is the revelation that both officials participated in a group chat on the Signal app, which was used by Trump administration officials to discuss plans to bomb Yemen in the presence of a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. This incident has sparked outrage on Capitol Hill and comes at a convenient time for Democrats, who are currently in the minority in both the Senate and House of Representatives. The news about the group chat has also weakened their position since Donald Trump’s return to the White House two months ago. The directors are required to provide annual testimony on the threats facing the United States, and Democratic Senators have already questioned them about this matter at an Intelligence Committee hearing. The Democratic ranking member, Jim Himes, confirmed that they could expect the same treatment before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday. He expressed his horror at reports of senior national security officials sharing sensitive information via a commercial messaging application, which could also be classified as imminent war plans. He emphasized that these individuals are aware of the risks of transmitting classified information across unclassified systems and that if any lower-ranking officials under their command had done the same, they would likely face clearance loss and criminal investigation. He demanded answers from the officials, which he planned to get on Wednesday during the Intelligence Committee’s worldwide threats hearing. At the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday, Democrats extensively questioned Gabbard and Ratcliffe about the Signal group. Republicans either avoided discussing the topic or stated they would address it in a private session. Gabbard declined to answer many questions, stating the matter was under investigation by the national security council, while Ratcliffe argued that using Signal was permitted by government rules. Both officials, however, declined to give many specifics, including how Goldberg was added to the group. Bennet, a Democratic Senator, questioned Ratcliffe, the CIA director, about why he had not raised concerns about Goldberg’s presence on the Signal thread.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/26/signal-leak-house-committee-hearing