During his confirmation hearing for the U.N. ambassador role, former national security adviser Mike Waltz faced sharp criticism from Democratic lawmakers over his handling of the Signalgate messaging scandal. The incident revolved around the accidental leakage of sensitive military communications via Signal, a messaging app. Lawmakers accused Walt, of lying about his role in the leaks and for failing to express regret for sharing classified information on an unsecured app. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) demanded that Waltz acknowledge the severity of the breach, stating, ‘I was hoping to hear from you that you had some sense of regret…’
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) further criticized Waltz, claiming he had made false assertions about how a journalist was added to the chat, accusing him of not only failing to stand up but lying. Waltz, for his part, defended his actions, blaming the Biden administration for approving the use of the messaging app. He asserted that the app was ‘not only authorized, it was recommended’ by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency. He claimed there was no classified military information discussed in any Signal chats he participated in.
The controversy resurfaced in March when The Atlantic published a report revealing that its editor in chief had been included in an unsecured Signal group chat with top Cabinet members, including Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, to coordinate plans for launching air strikes against the Houthi militant group in Yemen. Trump administration officials have consistently denied that any classified information was shared in the chat. However, Democrats on Congressional intelligence panels and former national security officials have insisted that the information in the chats would be considered highly classified.