‘What absolute clowns’: Ossoff blasts senior Trump administration officials over group chat

WASHINGTON — In a hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff expressed frustration and disbelief as he peppered senior Trump administration intelligence officials with pointed questions about a text chat discussing sensitive military strategies that inadvertently included a prominent political journalist.

The hearing came as revelations from the article by Atlantic magazine editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg made the rounds in Washington.

Goldberg wrote that he was added to the chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal by national security adviser Michael Waltz. He read in real-time the conversation that also included input from Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, policy adviser Stephen Miller and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles on a planned attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The information shared included names of intelligence officials and detailed plans for the strikes carried out on March 15, including targets and weapons used.

Ossoff, D-Atlanta, read portions of the Signal group chat aloud to CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who repeatedly said he did not remember details of the conversation.

“Vance: ‘I think we are making a mistake. I am not sure the president is aware of how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now. There is a strong argument for delaying this a month,’” Ossoff said. “You don’t recall?”

“I don’t,” Ratcliffe said.

“It included the private opinions of the secretary of defense on the timing of strikes in Yemen, correct?” Ossoff asked.

Again, Ratcliffe said he did not recall details of the conversation.

“Director Radcliffe, surely you prepared for this hearing today,” Ossoff said. “You were part of a group of principals, senior echelons of the U.S. government, in now a widely publicized breach of sensitive information. You don’t recall whether the vice president opined on the wisdom of the strikes? That’s your testimony today under oath?”

Many Republicans tried to downplay the potential national security implications or avoided weighing in altogether.

“However inadvertent, American strength was on full display in the messages,” Rep. Mike Collins, R-Jackson, said in a statement.

But some, including U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, said they are troubled by what they have learned.

”I think it was incredibly sloppy,” Greene, R-Rome, said, as reported by CBS News. “I think it was a mistake, and I can say for certain they’re going to put protocols in place so that doesn’t happen again.”

Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, said, “It should have never happened.”

Fellow Georgia Republican Reps. Buddy Carter, Rick Allen and Rich McCormick said they wanted the White House to take preventive measures to avoid another embarrassing event.

“While I commend the Trump Administration’s successful military strikes against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, we need to take additional steps to ensure nothing like this happens again,” said Allen, R-Augusta, in statement. “National security should always be the top priority.”

McCormick, R-Suwanee, said, “It was likely a mistake to include a journalist in an encrypted text chain meant for a select group of people. I have every confidence that this will be corrected and will never happen again.”

Carter, R-St. Simons Island, expressed a similar sentiment but also praised the White House for moving forward with its offensive on the Houthis.

“We need to take a look at what occurred to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” he wrote in a statement. “But isn’t it refreshing to see a national security team putting America First?”

U.S. Rep. Brian Jack said the controversy did not come up when House Republicans met behind closed doors Tuesday morning. The Peachtree City Republican said he was still trying to understand the facts around what occurred but found the preliminary details “interesting.”

Democrats were much more pointed in their response. Even before his comments during Tuesday’s hearing, Ossoff had blasted the Trump officials during an appearance on Brian Tyler Cohen’s podcast.

“What absolute clowns,” he said. “Total amateur hour. Reckless. Dangerous.”

His counterpart, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, also said the group chat was reckless and put service members at risk.

“I will be demanding answers from this administration on how this happened and what their plan is to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” Warnock wrote on X. “How can we trust this admin to keep GA safe when they’re this reckless?”