At a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) called on Sec. Pete Hegseth to resign.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Commissioner Morthy.
00:04Good morning, thank you Mr. Chair,
00:05and thank you to our witnesses for coming,
00:07thank you for your service.
00:10Director Gabbard, you said no classified information
00:12was included in the signal chat, correct?
00:16That's correct.
00:17And President Trump also said
00:19there was no classified information in the signal chat,
00:22and Secretary Hegseth said nobody was texting war plans,
00:27there was absolutely no classified info in that chat.
00:32Lieutenant General Cruz, I'd like to talk to you
00:34about a couple things real quick.
00:36Executive Order 13526, section 1.48,
00:40this is the Trump administration's executive order
00:43with regard to classified information.
00:46It says, information shall be classified
00:48if its unauthorized disclosure could reasonably be expected
00:51to cause damage to national security,
00:54including military plans, weapons systems, or operations.
00:58You don't disagree that that's accurately quoted, right?
01:02That's an accurate quote from the executive order.
01:05And DOD 5200.01, this is the DOD's manual
01:11on classification, says, quote,
01:12information shall be classified
01:14if its unauthorized disclosure could reasonably be expected
01:18to cause describable damage to national security.
01:21This includes military plans,
01:24weapons systems, or operations.
01:26You don't disagree that I quoted that accurately, right?
01:29That's also an accurate quote.
01:31Can I show you the, I'd like to show you the text
01:34that Secretary Hegseth actually published to the world.
01:40Now, Lieutenant General Cruz, as Ranking Member Himes said,
01:45it says, time now, weather is favorable,
01:47just confirmed with CENTCOM, we are a go for mission launch.
01:51And it says at 12.15 Eastern, F-18s launch
01:57first strike package.
01:58F-18s are military systems, correct?
02:01Weapons systems.
02:02They are.
02:03Okay.
02:0413.45, trigger-based F-18 first strike window starts.
02:09Target terrorist is at his known location,
02:12so should be on time.
02:14Also, strike drones launch, MQ-9s.
02:17MQ-9s is a weapons system, correct?
02:20They are.
02:21Okay.
02:22I think applying the executive order
02:25as well as the DOD manual to this fact pattern,
02:29we clearly have weapons systems that have been identified.
02:32That is classified information.
02:34Now, the reason why it's important
02:36that this information not be disclosed
02:40is that we don't want the adversaries to know
02:42what's about to happen, right, sir?
02:45Well, I would draw a small distinction there.
02:48You referenced and asked if that platform,
02:50those two platforms are weapons systems.
02:53They are, but those terms are used all across the globe
02:56in a lot of contexts, so it's really about
02:58how they're used in the context of this particular document.
03:00I just want to clarify that the use of those terms.
03:03I understand.
03:04In this situation, those are operational details.
03:10They are operational details, but again,
03:12as you quoted the DOD instruction, it's about operations.
03:15So as you further go down into
03:17what are the operational details,
03:19I think as we had a discussion yesterday,
03:22the important aspect, I think all of us are very familiar,
03:24we've seen.
03:25This is classified information.
03:26This is classified information.
03:28It's a weapons system as well as sequence of strikes
03:33as well as details about the operations.
03:37And so I think that just piggybacking off
03:40of what some other members have said,
03:42using the DOD's manual as well as the executive order
03:46in operation today with the Trump administration,
03:49this text message is clearly classified information.
03:53Secretary Hegseth has disclosed military plans
03:57as well as classified information.
03:58He needs to resign immediately.
04:01He needs to resign immediately and a full investigation
04:04needs to be undertaken with regard to
04:07whether other similar signal chats are occurring
04:11in this administration.
04:13I'd like to turn my attention to another topic.
04:16Director Patel, according to the DOJ,
04:18in 2022, the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force, JTTF,
04:24in my hometown of Chicago, valiantly led efforts
04:27to prevent a plot to attack Naval Station
04:29Great Lakes in Illinois.
04:31You don't dispute that, do you, sir?
04:33I'm not familiar with it,
04:34but I don't dispute what you're telling me.
04:37A memo obtained by ABC7 News of Chicago
04:39said that this task force will now be, quote,
04:42actively supporting, close quote,
04:44the Department of Homeland Security
04:45and its immigration enforcement.
04:47You don't dispute that either, do you?
04:49I'm just not familiar with it, sir.
04:51Okay.
04:52Sir, I just have to say, the DOJ has now tasked JTTFs
04:56to shift some resources to immigration enforcement efforts.
05:00And I don't say this lightly.
05:02If there's a terrorist attack anywhere in the country,
05:04including in Chicago, and it was because the JTTFs
05:08in part shifted resources, they'll be held to pay.
05:12Thank you, sir.