At today's Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) grilled CIA Director John Ratcliffe about the leaked group chat about Yemen war plans.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for holding this hearing and thank you for being here.
00:06Director Ratcliffe, it sounds to me like your testimony today and the DNI's testimony is
00:13that there was nothing wrong at all with the signal thread that you were on, that it didn't
00:20include any targeting information or battle sequence.
00:27That is your testimony.
00:30And I'm a little staggered that that is your view, Director Ratcliffe.
00:38Does the CIA have any rules about handling of classified information, yes or no?
00:44Yes.
00:46Thank you, Director Ratcliffe.
00:48Do you agree, Secretary of Defense Pete Hexeth said this morning when asked by members of the
00:55press what had happened, he said this morning in Hawaii that Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeff
01:03Goldberg is a, quote, deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who's made
01:09a profession of providing hoaxes time and time again.
01:14Do you share that evaluation, the Secretary of Defense's evaluation of Jeff Goldberg as
01:20a journalist?
01:21Senator, I didn't see those comments.
01:23I don't know Jeff Goldberg.
01:25So do you share that view of the Secretary of Defense?
01:27Well, I don't have a view on...
01:30Okay.
01:31Do you...
01:32Assuming that he has that view, I'm curious about whether...
01:37You are the CIA director, okay?
01:39This has happened.
01:41We know it's happened.
01:43Did Jeff Goldberg somehow...
01:47Was it a...
01:48Did he create a hoax that allowed him to become part of this signal thread?
01:53Please answer the question.
01:55You don't.
01:56Don't insult the intelligence of the American people.
02:01Did he invite himself to the signal thread?
02:05I don't know how he was invited, but clearly he was added.
02:10Clearly it was.
02:11Finish your sentence, please.
02:15Clearly he was added to the signal group.
02:18Your question is...
02:19Do you know that the president's national security advisor invited him to join the signal
02:28thread?
02:29Everybody in America knows that.
02:30Does the CIA director not know that?
02:32I've seen conflicting reports about who added the reporter to the signal messaging group.
02:39You think that it's perfectly appropriate that there was a reporter added, especially
02:45one that the secretary of defense says is deceitful, highly discredited, a so-called
02:51journalist who's made a profession of peddling hoaxes over and over again.
02:55Do you...
02:56Is your testimony that it was appropriate that he was added to this signal thread?
03:01No, of course not.
03:02Why did you not call you...
03:04Hold on, Senator.
03:05You're mischaracterizing my testimony.
03:08You answered the question.
03:10Let me ask you.
03:11When he was added to the thread, you're the CIA director.
03:15Why didn't you call out that he was present on the signal thread?
03:21I don't know if you use signal messaging app.
03:24I do.
03:25I do.
03:26Not for classified information.
03:28Not for targeting.
03:29Well, neither do I, Senator.
03:30Not for anything remote.
03:31Neither do I, Senator.
03:32Well, to be clear.
03:33That's what your testimony is today.
03:34It absolutely is not, Senator.
03:35Were you not listening at the beginning when I said that I was using it as permitted and
03:42that it is permissible to use?
03:43I agree that's your testimony.
03:44Yeah.
03:45I agree that's your testimony.
03:46You asked me if I use it.
03:47And I said, not for targeting, not for classified information.
03:51And I said I don't either.
03:52I also know Jeff Goldberg.
03:54I don't use it to communicate with him.
03:59But you thought it was appropriate.
04:01By the way, I think he's one of the more outstanding journalists in America.
04:05But I'm shocked to find him on a thread that he's reading in the parking lot of a grocery
04:10store in Washington, D.C.
04:12And your testimony as the director of the CIA is that it's totally appropriate.
04:18Is it appropriate?
04:19No.
04:20Director, that is not what I.
04:21Okay.
04:22Go ahead, please.
04:23When did I use the word appropriate?
04:25Well, go ahead, please.
04:27Well, I didn't.
04:29Everybody in America.
04:30Clearly, Senator.
04:31There's nothing to see here is what your testimony is.
04:33No, I never said that.
04:34This is just a normal day at the CIA where we chat about this kind of stuff over signal.
04:40In fact, it's so normal that the last administration left it here for us.
04:45That's your testimony today.
04:47That's your testimony.
04:48No, that's not my testimony.
04:49That's what you said.
04:50I didn't say any of those things that you just related, Senator.
04:53I heard you say it.
04:54We'll let the American people decide.
04:55Let me ask you one final point.
04:57I'm out of time.
04:58You mischaracterized it.
04:59Well, are you going to give me a chance to.
05:00Is it appropriate?
05:01Is it appropriate that the president's Middle East advisor was in Moscow on this thread
05:09while you were as director of the CIA participating in this in this thread?
05:15Were you aware of that?
05:18Are you aware of that today?
05:20I'm not aware of that.
05:21This sloppiness, this incompetence, this disrespect for our intelligence agencies and the personnel
05:29who work for him is entirely unacceptable.
05:33It's an embarrassment.
05:35Senator, you need to do better.
05:39You need to do better.
05:42I'm being gaveled by the chairman and I apologize for over going over my time.