Trump members insisted in the hearing of the House of Representatives on Wednesday that there is nothing wrong with using the consumer correspondence application to discuss American military plans to give Houthi goals in Yemen.
On Tuesday, spy leaders told the Council of Senate that they did not believe that none of their articles, nor “intelligence”, were ranked in chatting, as senior officials discussed timing, consultations and potential targets of air phones planned in the administration on the Houthis in Yemen.
Their answer was left at least the idea that some Pentagon’s joint plans to chat may be classified.
But on Wednesday, there was no hint of hesitation, with Toulcy Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence, stressing that no classified materials were placed in the group chat.
She said: “There were no sources, methods, sites, or war plans that were shared.”
The Republicans in the committee ignored this issue, with their questions focusing on the official topic of the session and evaluating the annual threat to the intelligence community.
The actor Dan Creensho from Texas, a veteran warrior and a purple -heart received, was one of the few Republican in the team to provide the defense of the chats, if partial in Jest.
He said: “I will always notice that I am using the expressive symbols of the fire when I see the terrorists kill,” referring to the three expressive symbols – a fist stumbling, American flag and fire – that Michael Waltz, a national security advisor, put in the chat, on the application of the sign.
Democrats, who fought to find their foot in the federal government -controlled government, appeared in the locking move as they face one of the most prominent mistakes made by Trump officials since they took office.
In the question after the question, members of the Democratic Assembly removed from the chat group issue within five special minutes.
Actress Krie Huhelhan, a democracy in Pennsylvania, a former Air Force officer, said she was initially intended to discuss vital security threats and vital benefit facing the United States.
Instead, she said that she would be devoted to pressure on Mr. Trump’s national security team about the risks of communicating on the commercial correspondence application.
“The threat is at home, and the threat throughout DS,” said Ms. Hollehan, referring to Ms. Gabbard, John Ratcliffe, the director of the CIA, and other intelligence officials who appeared in the session. “I need to ask these questions. It is my job to ask these questions about you.”
She and other Democrats argued that the chats were subject to objection through a hostile force and they would be at risk of American pilots if the conversation was conducted to the Houthis, a militia group backed by Iranian that has advanced air defense systems.
The intelligence report is an annual assessment by the federal agencies of global threats that are submitted to the Senate and the Intelligence Committees in the House of Representatives. In the meetings of the previous committee, the Republicans sometimes focused with interest on the individual issues they sympathize with – such as the faults imagined in the work of the intelligence community in Russia or the overthrow of Trump’s loyalists from a major intelligence position by the Biden Administration – and Democrats spoke about the essence of hearing.
However, the roles were reversed this year, as the democratic democrats were uncompromising about the sign chat, that Defense Minister Beit Higseth has incorrectly participated in secret information on a platform that is not classified.
The editor -in -chief of the Atlantic Ocean was unintentionally added to the chat group. Conversation, which Atlantic Ocean Published This week, Mr. Higseth has been shown in the critical details of the upcoming operation, including the exact time of attacks.
At the house session on Wednesday, Trump administration officials Reducing it The issue.
Mrs. Gabbard noted that while the information related to the chat was placed in the chat, the same information was provided to the allies. Mr. Ratcliffe said that the messages revealed by the Atlantic Ocean indicated that he had not shared any secret information. His contributions to the discussion seem to avoid any details that reveal the accurate activities of agencies.
But the Democrats dispel this line of defense. For example, the actor Joaquin Castro from Texas is a problem with confirmation of intelligence officials that information in chatting indicated the Houthi strikes was not classified.
He said, “You all know that this is a lie.” “It is a lie to the country.”
The session has become controversial in many moments. Actor Jimmy Gomez, Democrat California, and Mr. Ratcliftef for a short period of time in the screaming match, asked Mr. Gomez the witnesses if “Higseth House was drinking before the classified information leaks.”
“I think this is an abusive line of interrogation – not the answer,” Mr. Ratcliffe launched again.
During his confirmation process, Mr. Higseth committed to the members of the Senate that he would do so Refrain from alcohol consumption If he is confirmed as defense minister.
Some of the most effective interrogation came from actor Jason Crowe, a democratic in Colorado, a combat warrior. Mr. Crowe indicated that the Houthis were able to shoot down the MQ-9 Reaper drones, one of the weapons used in strikes on Yemen.
With an assistant carrying posters behind him, Mr. Crowe described advanced air defense systems from the Houthis, then he said that it is terrible that the administration does not accept responsibility for the leakage.
He said: “It is a leadership failure, and for this reason, Minister Higsith, who undoubtedly conveyed secretly sensitive operational information through this series, must resign immediately.”
By the end of the session, more Democrats in the Capitol Hill joined the invitation to Mr. Higseth and Mr. Walt to resign.
Although most Republicans were in line with Mr. Trump’s response strategy to reduce and deny the seriousness of the episode, the Republican called at least one, Senator Roger Wekir from Mississippi, to a general inspector to review the accident.
Mr. Wekir, Chairman of the Senate Committee of the Pentagon, said that he and the democratic member of the committee will ask for a secret briefing on the matter.
