Press Releases

Today, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent letters to non-principal agency officials involved in the unsecured Signal group chat in which senior Trump Administration officials discussed highly sensitive, likely classified plans for a military operation in Yemen using unapproved and unlawful communication methods, unknowingly included The Atlantic reporter Jeffrey Goldberg in those discussions, and endangered the lives of American servicemembers involved in the operation.

 “The Committee has reason to believe that you have firsthand knowledge concerning the discussion of sensitive and/or classified national security information on Signal or other unofficial messaging applications or platforms, the manner in which senior government officials and other government personnel have used Signal or other such applications or platforms to conduct official government communications, and the extent to which federal officials and personnel may have engaged in improper use of their personal devices to participate in communications concerning official government business or matters of national security,” wrote Ranking Member Connolly. 

In his letters, Ranking Member Connolly underscores the importance of the requested transcribed interviews as Committee Democrats seek to: 

Determine whether legislation is appropriate to ensure the proper handling of sensitive and/or classified information concerning U.S. national security by federal officials and personnel; Prevent the unauthorized disclosure of highly sensitive national security information, which could endanger American military and intelligence personnel; Ensure that official government communications take place on authorized platforms and devices; and Make certain that federal records are handled and preserved in accordance with the Federal Records Act, Presidential Records Act, and all other applicable federal laws and regulations.

“Accordingly, I request your appearance for a transcribed interview … This information is critical to our investigation into the Signal chat breach, including the extent to which classified and/or sensitive national security information was improperly disclosed, the extent to which such disclosure harmed U.S. national security, the use of Signal and/or other private messaging applications and platforms by national security personnel, and the use of private devices for official government business and communications,” concluded Ranking Member Connolly.

Ranking Member Connolly and Oversight Democrats have launched a multifront investigation into the use of Signal by the Trump Administration’s highest-ranking national security officials to discuss highly sensitive, likely classified plans in a manner that endangers the lives of servicemembers and skirts federal records laws and national security protocols.

On March 25, 2025, Ranking Member Connolly and Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost sent a letter to several members of the National Security Council and White House Cabinet members involved in the group chat advising them to preserve records in accordance with the law as Committee Democrats launched an investigation into this catastrophic and confounding security breach. On March 26, 2025, Committee Democrats sent a letter to the above mentioned Signal chat participants demanding an immediate briefing on how and why America’s national security secrets ended up in a group chat on an unauthorized messaging app that included a journalist. On March 27, 2025, Ranking Member Connolly sent a letter to inspectors general at the Department of Defense, Department of State, Department of Treasury, and Central Intelligence Agency, and to Counsel to the President David Warrington demanding a multifront investigation into the exposure of likely classified information in the unsecure Signal chat. That same day, the Members urged Chairman Comer to schedule a hearing on the reckless, unauthorized disclosure of unclassified information.

Click here to read the letters.