US Democrats move to force House vote on Signal chat leak
WASHINGTON—Democratic lawmakers in the US House of Representatives sought on Wednesday to force the Trump administration to hand over records related to the disclosure of highly sensitive attack plans that were shared over a commercial messaging app, according to a document reviewed by Reuters.
The lawmakers filed a resolution that—if passed by the House—would require the Trump administration to transmit a wide range of documents, messaging chats, charts, notes from meetings and telephone records related to discussion on the Signal app that included top administration officials and a journalist.
It is unclear if the “Resolution of Inquiry,” seen by Reuters, would pass a vote by either the House Foreign Affairs Committee or the full House of Representatives, but it would keep alive an issue that the White House has sought to downplay since the story was published in The Atlantic on Monday.
Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth texted about plans to kill a Houthi militant leader in Yemen two hours before a military operation meant to be shrouded in secrecy, according to screenshots of a chat released by The Atlantic on Wednesday.
Most aggressive response yet
The revelation that highly sensitive attack plans were shared on a commercial messaging app, possibly on personal cellphones, has triggered outrage in Washington and calls from Democrats that members of Trump’s national security team be fired over the leaks.
Filing the resolution is one of the most aggressive responses yet by Democrats to the apparent security breach.
A source familiar with the resolution said it is led by Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and backed by every Democrat on the panel.
Under House rules, the resolution of inquiry must be voted on by the relevant House committee—in this case the Foreign Affairs panel—within 14 days, or Democrats can force a vote in the full House.
Democrats—and some of President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans—have been demanding explanations after the news this week that top officials, including Vice President JD Vance and members of Trump’s cabinet, this month discussed an imminent attack on Houthis in Yemen in a chat on Signal that included the editor in chief of The Atlantic.
Full responsibility
National security adviser Mike Waltz has said he took full responsibility for the breach as he had created the Signal group.
But on Wednesday, Waltz played down the disclosure, saying on X: “No locations. No sources & methods. NO WAR PLANS. Foreign partners had already been notified that strikes were imminent.”
Trump has also played down the Yemen leak, saying on a podcast “there was nothing in there that compromised … the attack.”
Though Republicans have the votes to block the measures, Democrats view these efforts as a way to put Republicans on record and to create a potential battle cry for next year’s midterm elections.
Republicans hold a slim majority in the House, and have to date hewed closely to all of Trump’s policy positions.
However, some administration officials have acknowledged that adding the journalist to a sensitive military chat was a mistake.
