Trump minimizes Yemen war chat fiasco: “ it can happen ”

President Donald Trump minimized the use of a signal group cat on Tuesday that would have been among the senior officials to discuss an American attack on the Houthis in Yemen – highlighted when a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic, was “inadvertently” added to the cat.

Trump said there was “no classified information as I understand” when he was dotted with questions about the incident reported at a meeting with his White House ambassadors. Trump came to the defense of the National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and presented the military operation as a success.

“They have used an application, if you want to call it an application, that many people use. Many people in government use, many people in the media use,” said Trump.

Goldberg, the editor -in -chief of the Atlantic, wrote in an article published on Monday that he had been added to a group cat in the signal application available in the trade in which officials, including the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth and Waltz, discussed the hindrance strikes on the activists of Houthi in Yémen. Goldberg said it was apparently added to the cat by Waltz.

The history of the Atlantic only described the operational part of the chain of messages, but has not disclosed details.

When asked if someone would be dismissed after the fire storm, Trump replied: “We examined him pretty much. It’s quite simple, to be honest … It’s just something that can happen. It can happen.”

Trump attacked the Atlantic as well as Goldberg and doubled the success of air strikes.

“Well, I mean, look, we look at everything and, you know, they made a big problem because we had two perfect months,” said Trump.

Waltz said he had technical experts – rather than the FBI – by examining the question and telling Trump: “We will keep just as safe as possible. No one in your national security team would never endanger anyone.”

The Atlantic has rejected Trump’s claims.

“The attempts to denigrate and discredit the Atlantic, our editor -in -chief and our reports follow an obvious game book of elected officials and others in power who are hostile to journalists and the rights of the first amendment of all Americans,” the magazine said in a statement on Tuesday evening. “Our journalists continue to report the truth without fear and independently in the public interest.

“Jeffrey Goldberg has received information and a discussion on military planning among the main national security leaders in the country when it was inadvertently added to their unsecured messaging group,” he added. “It’s magnificent – and was confirmed yesterday by the National Security Council.”

The Democrats of Capitol Hill sounded against the administration during the incident throughout Tuesday.

Representative Seth Moulton, D-MASS., A Marin veteran, said at a press conference that the Group of Chat Signals of the National Security violation “put the American lives in danger”.

Moulton said that Trump administration officials were lying on the incident, who is “not in the management manual of our armed services”.

“Oh, this information was not classified? Without even knowing the details, we know that the time of attack for this operation was in the message. Let’s be clear: this is classified information. That’s all you need to know,” he added.

The Congress Member has recognized that there is “no excuse here, but there is no responsibility either, and it is very clear that the secretary Hegseth, with the way in which he manages this, has no honor, has no sense of duty and has absolutely no responsibility for his own actions.”

Hakeem Jeffries’s minority head, asked Hegseth to be dismissed on the group cat.

“Pete Hegseth is the most unreserved defense secretary in American history,” he said in a statement. “His behavior shocks consciousness, risky of American lives and probably violated the law.”

Earlier Tuesday, the Democrats toasted the director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and the director of the CIA John Ratcliffe on the use of the signal and the information discussed on the cat.

Intelligence managers, who testified within the framework of a previously planned hearing before the Senate Information Committee, also said that there was no classified information included in the message chain.

To face questions from the Democrats of the Senate on the reasons why the information on sequencing or the calendar of attacks, as reported by the Atlantic, would not be considered classified, Ratcliffe said that the Secretary of Defense Hegseth had the power to determine what was classified or not. Gabbard postponed these questions to the Ministry of Defense.

Ratcliffe also said that he thought that the national security advisor Waltz intended that the cat was “a coordination mechanism between senior higher level officials, but not a substitute to use high -level or classified communications for everything that would be classified”.

Democratic senator Mark Warner, vice-president of the panel, criticized the incident as “sloppy” and said that others were dismissed for the same driving. Warner also put pressure on managers to share the messages with the legislators after declaring that it did not contain any classified information.

“If there was no classified equipment, share it with the Committee. You cannot have it in both directions,” he said.

The Panel Republicans have not raised so many questions about the question during the audience, which had focused on global threats. Although Senator Todd Young, an Indiana republican, said he would ask questions about the signal incident during a closed session.

Officials of the National Security Council of the White House said that they “examined” how Goldberg could have been wrongly added to the group cat of 18 members who included several of the country’s main military officials.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the exam on Tuesday, but said that “no” war plans “had been discussed”. She added that no classified material was sent to the signal cat.

“The White House lawyer’s office has provided advice on a number of different platforms for the main officials of President Trump to communicate as safely and effectively as possible,” she said.

“Currently, the message thread that has been reported seems authentic, and we are examining how inadvertently has been added to the channel,” said NSC spokesperson Brian Hughes, in a press release, who was sent to ABC News after being published by the Atlantic.

The scope of the journal, especially if it would try to determine why high -level discussions on military planning took place outside the official canals, was not immediately clear of the Hughes Declaration.

Trump did not undertake to modify the procedure or completely cut the use of the signal within the administration following the fiasco.

“I do not think that it is something that we are impatient to use again. We can be forced to use it. You can be in a situation where you need speed rather than raw safety, and you may be forced to use it, but, in general, I think we will probably not use it,” he said.

Despite his efforts to minimize the incident, President Trump repeatedly indicated that he did not like this means of communication, saying that he thinks that it is better to be in the situation room for these conversations.

“Sometimes someone can get on these things. This is one of the prices you pay when you are not sitting in the situation room without phones, which is always the best, frankly,” said Trump.

“Listen, if it was me, everyone would sit in a room together,” said Trump later. “The room would have solid lead walls and a ceiling and a lead floor. But, you know, life does not always let that do that.”

ABC News’ Fritz Farrowz Farrowz Farrowz Farrowz Farrowz Farrowz Farrowz Farrowz Farrowz Farrowz Farrowz Farrowz Farrowz Farrowz Farrowz Fritz Farrowz Farrowz Farrowz Fritz Farrowz Farrowz Murray, Ivan Pereira and Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.