During a fiery series of remarks before the House Intelligence Committee, CIA Director John Ratcliffe sounded off on The Atlantic and exposed its supposed report on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s irresponsibility as a ridiculous smear job. That angry obliteration of the woke magazine came when Ratcliffe said the Signal group chat texts published by The Atlantic show that no “classified information” was transmitted.
As background, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, claimed in a report that Hegseth and others had published “war plans” in the chat. The Atlantic soon reversed that position, changing the wording to claim that the Trump Administration officials shared “attack plans” when the “war plans” talking point was revealed as misleading.
It was about that supposed scandal that Director Ratcliffe sounded off during the House Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday, March 26, and slammed the claim pushed by some senators that he had shared classified information in the group chat. He said, “With regard to that article, I also would appreciate the opportunity to relay the fact that yesterday I spent four hours answering questions from senators as a result of that article that were intimating that I transmitted classified information because there were hidden messages.”
Continuing, Ratcliffe slammed Goldberg for what he insinuated about that classified information in the report. He said, “Those messages were revealed today and revealed that I did not transmit classified information, and that the reporter who I don’t know, I think intentionally intended it to indicate that.”
Building on that, Ratcliffe noted that another of Goldberg’s claims was utterly false. He said, “That reporter also indicated that I had released the name of an undercover CIA operative in that Signal chat. In fact, I had released the name of my chief of staff who was not operating undercover. That was deliberately false and misleading.”
Ratcliffe further noted that what was shared by the members of the chat was perfectly permissible, and reiterated his point that no classified information was shared. He said, “I used an appropriate channel to communicate sensitive information. It was permissible to do so. I didn’t transfer any classified information.”
Concluding, he noted that, regardless of the furor stirred up by Goldberg misses the point, as the Houthi bombing operation was a success. He told the lawmakers, “And at the end of the day, what is most important is that the mission was a remarkable success is what everyone should be focused on here, because that’s what did happen, not what possibly could have happened.”
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Also pressed on the matter was Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who faced questions about the group chat and sounded off on the matter on Wednesday. She said, “My answer yesterday was based on my recollection, or the lack thereof on the details that were posted there. What was shared today reflects the fact that I was not directly involved with that part of the signal chat and replied at the end, reflecting the effects, the very brief effects that the national security advisor had shared.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video