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Democrats Demand Trump Officials Resign Over Chat on Yemen Strikes

Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, FBI Director Kash Patel, Air Force General and Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) Timothy Haugh and Air Force Lt. General and Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Jeffrey Kruse sit on the day they testify before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US, March 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

The Trump administration sought on Tuesday to contain the fallout after a magazine journalist disclosed he had been inadvertently included in a secret group discussion of highly sensitive war plans, while Democrats called on top officials to resign over the security incident.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe – both of whom were in the chat – testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee that no classified material was shared in the group chat on Signal, an encrypted commercial messaging app.

But Democratic senators voiced skepticism about that claim, noting that the journalist, The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg, reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted operational details about pending strikes against Yemen‘s Iran-backed Houthis, “including information about targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing.”

“It’s hard for me to believe that targets and timing and weapons would not have been classified,” Senator Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, said at the contentious hearing, which featured several sharp exchanges.

The extraordinary revelation on Monday triggered outrage and disbelief among national security experts and prompted Democrats – and some of Trump‘s fellow Republicans – to call for an investigation of what they described as a major security breach.

“I am of the view that there ought to be resignations, starting with the national security adviser and the secretary of defense,” Democratic Senator Ron Wyden said at the hearing.

Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff appeared to grow frustrated after Ratcliffe answered “I don’t recall” to a series of questions about the content of the Signal chat.

“Director Ratcliffe, surely you prepared for this hearing today,” Ossoff said. “You are part of a group of principals, senior echelons of the US government, and now a widely publicized breach of sensitive information.”

“”We will get the full transcript of this chain, and your testimony will be measured carefully against its content,” he added.

A former US official told Reuters that operational details for military actions are typically classified and known to only a few people at the Pentagon. Such top-secret information is usually kept on computers that use a separate network, the official said.

Earlier on Tuesday, President Donald Trump expressed support for his national security adviser, Michael Waltz, who had mistakenly added Goldberg to the Signal discussion.

“Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” Trump told NBC News in a phone interview.

SECURITY RISKS

National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said on Monday that the chat group appeared to be authentic. The White House said it was looking into how Goldberg’s number was added to the thread.

Classified and sensitive information is not supposed to be shared on commercial mobile phone apps, and unknown numbers – such as Goldberg’s – should not be included.

Accounts that appeared to represent Vice President JD Vance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Ratcliffe, Gabbard, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, and senior National Security Council officials were assembled in the chat group, Goldberg wrote on Monday.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt accused Goldberg of sensationalizing the story in a post on X and asserted that no war plans were discussed and no classified material was sent to the thread.

Goldberg did not include the planning details that he said Hegseth had posted in the chat, but he termed it “shockingly reckless.”

Hegseth told reporters on Monday that no one had texted war plans. Goldberg, appearing on CNN on Monday, called those comments “a lie.”

It remained unclear why the officials chose to chat via Signal rather than the secure government channels typically used for sensitive discussions.

Signal has a “stellar reputation and is widely used and trusted in the security community,” said Rocky Cole, whose cybersecurity firm iVerify helps protect smartphone users from hackers.

“The risk of discussing highly sensitive national security information on Signal isn’t so much that Signal itself is insecure,” Cole added. “It’s the fact that nation-states threat actors have a demonstrated ability to remotely compromise the entire mobile phone itself. If the phone itself isn’t secure, all the Signal messages on that device can be read.”

Republican Representative Don Bacon, a retired Air Force general who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, told reporters that Hegseth needed to take responsibility for the breach, which he said put lives at risk.

Asked about the White House claim that no classified details were shared, Bacon responded: “They ought to just be honest and own up to it.”

The post Democrats Demand Trump Officials Resign Over Chat on Yemen Strikes first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.

The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.

They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.

Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.

Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.

Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.

The post Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip

Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS

i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.

The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.

Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.

He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.

The post Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS

i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.

Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.

Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.

Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.

Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.

The post Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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