At a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing held Tuesday morning, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe repeatedly denied any wrongdoing related to a Signal group chat where administration officials discussed sensitive military operations, a chat that accidentally included The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg.
Neither Gabbard's opening statement, delivered on behalf of Ratcliffe and FBI director Kash Patel, nor the initial remarks of chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., mentioned the emerging scandal. Republicans in general have been forgiving of the Trump administration over the chat, though a minority have joined Democrats in calling it an egregious breach of national security protocol.
