Top Trump Official Was In Russia While War Plans Were Being Discussed On Signal

A top Trump administration official was in Russia while he and colleagues discussed war plans on messaging app Signal, open-source flight information shows.

The analysis, conducted by CBS News, shows that Trump's Ukraine and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was in Moscow while the group was active and discussing options to attack the Houthis in Yemen.

Witkoff was added to the "Houthi PC small group" some 12 hours after arriving in Russia on March 13. He was there to discuss steps toward a ceasefire between Moscow and Ukraine.

The outlet explained that Russia has repeatedly tried to compromise Signal throughout the years. The vulnerability of such apps was highlighted by critics of the Trump administration when conveying their dismay at the decision to discuss highly sensitive topics there, as well as the fact that national security advisor Mike Waltz inadvertently added The Atlantic Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg to the chat.

The matter has been dominating headlines ever since, and especially as top intelligence officials had to face a Senate committee on Tuesday. While the hearing was set to discuss global threats, most questions, especially from Democrats, revolved around the chat.

One of the most salient moments took place when Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) confronted CIA Director John Ratcliffe over his inability to explain how Goldberg was added to the chat.

"Did he create a hoax that allowed him to be part of this Signal thread?" Bennet asked Ratcliffe who hesitated before responding, "I don't know how he was invited." Bennet pressed further, pointing out that National Security Adviser Mike Waltz had invited Goldberg and questioning why Ratcliffe, as CIA Director, was unaware of this:

"You don't know that the President's National Security advisor invited him to join the Signal thread? Everybody in America knows that. Does the CIA director not know that?" Bennett said. "I've seen conflicting reports about who added the reporter to the Signal messaging group," Ratcliffe added.

Elsewhere in the session, Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, slammed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Waltz over the way they handled matters, saying they did not "conduct hygiene 101."

"There's plenty of declassified information that shows that our adversaries, China and Russia, are trying to break into encrypted systems," Warner said during opening remarks. "If this was the case of a military officer or an intelligence officer and they had this kind of behavior, they would be fired," he added.