Leaked chat: White House defends Trump as democrats demand resignations

The White House on Tuesday chastised the Democrats for their flurry of condemnations after a private conversation about the United States military strikes became public.

Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, disclosed on Monday that he had been added to a Signal chat where senior government officials discussed the strikes on the Houthis in Yemen.

Also in the chat were Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

The Trump administration is facing mounting pressure following the leak, with increasing calls for resignations, as critics argue that it portrays the National Security team as negligent.

However, the White House accused the Democrats of ignoring the fact that the President and his team had eliminated terrorists who targeted U.S. troops and disrupted one of the world’s most significant shipping routes.

The presidency suggested that there was “a coordinated effort to distract from the successful actions taken by President Trump and his administration to make America’s enemies pay and keep Americans safe.”;

The White House maintained that the administration’s actions to hold the Houthis accountable had been a massive success, adding that “nothing can distract from that unrelenting action”; to protect American citizens.

On Tuesday at the Capitol, before a closed-door session, lawmakers publicly met with CIA Director Ratcliffe, DNI Gabbard, and FBI Director Kash Patel to discuss security matters.

During an exchange about the leaked chat, Virginia Democrat Senator Mark Warner stated that if a similar leak had been caused by an intelligence officer, that individual would have been fired.

Responding to Warner's demand for answers, Gabbard insisted, “There was no classified material that was shared,”; and refused to comment further, repeatedly stating, “I’m not going into the specifics.”;

Ratcliffe, however, said his text in the chat was not classified. Warner then dared him and others to make the full conversation public if it truly was not classified.

“When the stakes are this high, incompetence is not an option. Pete Hegseth should resign. Mike Waltz should resign,”; Warner wrote on X.

Also at the Capitol, Democrat lawmakers took turns at a press briefing to reprimand security officials and call for their resignations.

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin called for Hegseth’s resignation, describing him as “unfit to lead the Defence Department even before he risked our national security.”;

“Hegseth should resign, and if he doesn’t resign, he should be fired,”; Martin stated. “Our men and women in uniform deserve better; our national security cannot be left in Hegseth’s incompetent and unqualified hands.”;

Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries described the leak as “outrageous and shocking to the conscience,”; adding that Americans were angry “due to the elevation of reckless and mediocre individuals, including the Secretary of Defence.”;