U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Jamaica Wednesday as part of a diplomatic Caribbean tour, while back in the U.S., other Trump administration officials continued to face scrutiny over the recent inadvertent disclosure of U.S. military attack plans to a journalist.
Rubio was asked by reporters about the incident, which stems from a Signal messaging app group chat between top Trump administration officials regarding a military mission to strike Houthi rebels in Yemen. However, what the officials seemingly didn't realize was that the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic was also added to the group and later published the attack discussions.
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When asked about the scandal, Rubio defended using the messaging app to communicate with other Trump administration officials, but admitted someone made a mistake in including a journalist in the high-level talks.
"This thing was set up for purposes of coordinating how everyone was going to call, you know, when these things happen I need to call foreign ministers — especially of our close allies — we need to notify members of Congress, other members of the team have different people they needs to notify as well, and that was the purpose of why it was set up," Rubio told reporters. "Obviously someone made a mistake. Someone made a big mistake and added a journalist. Nothing against journalists but you ain't supposed to be on that thing."
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Rubio, who was also included in the group chat, maintained that none of the information discussed was meant to leave that group.
"I've been assured by the Pentagon and everyone involved that none of the information that was on there, though not intended to be divulged, obviously that was a mistake and that shouldn't have happened and the White House is looking at it, but that none of the information on there at any point threatened the operation or the lives of our servicemen," Rubio stated.
Some former national security officials have stated unequivocally that the contents of the chat were classified, although Trump administration officials continue to deny those claims. When asked whether he thought any of the information discussed was considered classified, Rubio deferred judgment.
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"Well, the Pentagon says it was not," Rubio responded. "And not only did it say it was not, they make very clear that it didn't put in danger anyone's life or the mission. There was no intelligence information."
National Security Adviser Mike Waltz has since admitted to mistakenly including the Atlantic's editor-in-chief in the chat, taking responsibility for the error. However, the publication’s subsequent release of the text messages led to additional scrutiny from lawmakers amid concerns over how sensitive information related to national security is discussed.
