‘Extreme alarm’: Democrats demand answers after storm signal chat

Chuck Schumer Minority Leaders and Top Senate Democrats from the National Security Committee wrote a letter to President Donald Trump looking for more information about the report that his cabinet members used signal applications to hold group chat to “coordinate and share confidential information about sensitive military planning operations” and mistakenly incorporating the Atlantic Editor inlantic Chief Jeff Goldberg.

“We write to you with extreme alarm about a very bad assessment shown by your cabinet and national security advisers,” wrote the senators, according to a copy of the letter obtained by ABC News. “You have long recommended accountability and transparency in government, especially those relating to the handling of confidential information, national security, and safety of serviceemembers members. Thus, it is very important for you to overcome this violation with the seriousness and perseverance.”

The Committee “has a serious question about this incident, and members need complete accounting to ensure that it never happened again,” said the letter. The authors ask for a “complete and non -editorial” transcript from a signal chat for the appropriate committee to be reviewed in a safe arrangement.

The senators also asked the Attorney General Pam Bondi to conduct a thorough investigation of the problem, quoting fears that “intentional disclosure or negligent from national security information that is classified or sensitive can be a criminal violation of the Espionage Law or other laws.”

The letter asked Trump to preserve the conversation in question, along with other discussions about government businesses that occur in any message application, quoting fears that the signal message – which is regulated to automatically disappear after a fixed period of time – can violate the federal records and the President’s record.

“You and your cabinet are responsible for the safety and security of the American people, as well as members of our service and intelligence personnel in the field. We hope that your government will overcome the dangerous hose in this security protocol – whether or not – seriously, and to uphold the ethics of accountability owned by our country,” said the letter.

The letter was signed by a member of the Judiciary Committee Dick Durbin, a member of the Armed Service Committee Jack Reed, a member of the Foreign Committee Jeanne Shaheen, Deputy Chairperson of the Mark Warner intelligence committee, the allocation sub -community in the defense rank member Chris Coons, and the homeland Security ranking. Therefore he is a joint statement from the top Democrats in all committees that deal with national security issues.

In their letter to Trump, the senators asked for answers to 10 specific questions related to reported signal chat, including the complete list of participants.

That includes the question of whether there are other people who are mistakenly added to the chat, whether there are people who use private devices to access the chat, whether there are people abroad while accessing the chat and whether there are secret documents transferred to a system that is not classified. The senators are also looking for responses about whether the intelligence community has evaluated damage to the problem.

The senators further ask for answers about whether there are cabinet officers or white buildings using signals or other commercial products to discuss information that is classified or sensitive, or any communication is subject to legal recording requirements. If so, they ask the White House to provide details on how it meets the recording requirements.