'One Of The Greatest National Security Failures': Frost Blasts Trump Admin Over Leaked War Plans

3 days ago

At a House Oversight Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) spoke about the leaked war plans involving a Signal chat.

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Transcript

00:00Mr. Chair. Mr. Frost.

00:04So I oppose the underlying bill and I support

00:08Representative Simon's amendment

00:11and I agree with what was just said. If you are against cutting these programs, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, you should support this amendment.

00:19But I also want to say something else. I find it

00:23astonishing

00:24that this committee is focused on passing legislation that would give the Trump administration more power

00:33just 24 hours after we learned that members of this administration,

00:38Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, National Security Advisor Mike Walz,

00:46Vice President J.D. Vance, and other top decision makers are responsible for one of the greatest

00:52national security failures of this century.

00:55It is our most basic duty as the Committee on Oversight

01:01to find out how this could have happened and what damage could have been done and has been done to our national security.

01:07And as I claim time to debate on this bill,

01:10it is relevant to raise the question of why the Republican sponsor considers this issue more important

01:16than getting to the bottom of this, quote, Houthi PC small group, end quote, signal chat, where highly sensitive

01:24information about a military operation

01:26prior to its being carried out was shared on an unofficial and unsecured channel with a private citizen.

01:34Yesterday, Atlantic Editor Jeffrey Goldberg published the astonishing story of how he was added to a signal chat by National Security Advisor

01:42Mike Waltz that included the Secretary of Defense, Vice President, and 16 others, most of whom have yet to be identified.

01:49The White House has already acknowledged the legitimacy of this conversation.

01:54Mr. Chair, I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record this Atlantic article titled, The Trump Administration

02:00Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans. Without objection to order. Over the course of several days, this chat openly discussed

02:09military operations against the Houthis in Yemen,

02:12putting our service members at risk, and putting our country at risk.

02:17This is the oversight committee.

02:19We need to conduct oversight. If a Democratic administration committed such a colossal and possibly criminal

02:27failure of national security,

02:29I know that my fellow Democrats and I on this committee would join Republicans in investigating it because it makes our country less safe.

02:38We need to have

02:41Secretary of Defense Hegseth in these chairs under oath,

02:45opening up an immediate investigation to answer these following obvious questions.

02:51Why was signal being used for this conversation?

02:56Is signal or other unofficial unsecured channels being used for other national security conversations?

03:01Is it DOD, NSA, or White House policy to use signal for official business?

03:08Whose policy is it?

03:10Were laws broken through the use of signal to discuss these future military operations, and if so, which ones?

03:18What other signal channels discussing classified information exist?

03:23The 18 names in this chat mostly appear as just initials.

03:27Who are these people, and do they all have proper security clearance to discuss this information?

03:33It was reported that the messages in this group were set to an auto-delete after eight days.

03:38Was that a Department of Defense policy? Did someone in the signal group make that decision on their own?

03:44What operational details were discussed, and could operational security be compromised if an enemy actor has accessed the signal chat?

03:54Secretary of Defense Hegseth was asked if he participated in the signal group chat, and instead of giving a straight answer,

03:59he verbally attacked the journalist asking the question. He should be answering those questions here today under oath.

04:06Mr. Chairman, this is an extreme breach of trust, a violation of the law that demands congressional oversight.

04:14Later this afternoon, Ranking Member Connolly and I will be sending a letter that demands that all departments implicated in this confounding episode

04:22preserve all related documents and communications, including the signal chats.

04:27I invite all my colleagues on this committee, Democrats and Republicans, to join us in this effort. Mr. Comer,

04:34I hope you will fulfill your commitment to conducting serious congressional oversight and sign this letter. I yield back.

'One Of The Greatest National Security Failures': Frost Blasts Trump Admin Over Leaked War Plans

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