House hearing erupts over "offensive" Hegseth drinking question
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CIA Director John Ratcliffe testifies to the House Intelligence Committee at the U.S. Capitol on March 26. Photo: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
A House Intelligence Committee hearing devolved into fury on Wednesday after Trump administration intelligence officials were questioned about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's "drinking habits."
Why it matters: Democrats used the hearing to grill the officials on highly sensitive details about military operations that Hegseth sent to a Signal chat that mistakenly included a journalist.
- The hearing comes as a growing number of Democrats are calling for Hegseth, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and other Trump officials involved in the chat to step down or be fired.
What happened: Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), noting that Hegseth was questioned during his confirmation hearing over alleged excessive drinking, asked if he "had been drinking before he leaked classified information."
- Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard responded that she doesn't "have any knowledge of Secretary Hegseth's personal habits."
- CIA Director John Ratcliffe told Gomez: "You know, no, I'm going to answer that. I think that's an offensive line of questioning. The answer's no."
Zoom in: Gomez and Ratcliffe then got drawn into several testy exchanges in which the CIA director repeatedly cut in while the California Democrat attempted to reclaim his time.
- "This was a question that's on the top of minds of every American. [Hegseth] stood in front of a podium in Europe holding a drink," Gomez said.
- "So of course we want to know if his performance is compromised," he added.
State of play: Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg revealed Monday that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz added him to a Signal chat in which high-level national security officials discussed strikes in Yemen
- After the administration pushed back on the notion that any "war plans" or classified information was revealed, The Atlantic published the full transcript.
- In it, Hegseth posted information about the timing, targets and weapon systems involved in strikes against the Houthi rebels.
Zoom out: Throughout the hearing, Democrats tried to pin the intelligence officials down on whether the information was — or at least should have been — classified, and whether its disclosure would have put U.S. soldiers in harm's way.
- Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) coaxed concessions out of both Gabbard and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Jeffrey Kruse that the Houthi rebels can target U.S. aircraft.
- Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), noting that he served with both Gabbard and Ratcliffe in Congress, said: "I have seen things much less sensitive be presented to us with high classification."
