President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor, Mike Waltz, blamed the Biden administration for his use of the Signal messaging app in March to discuss secret war plans with other Trump administration officials, including Defense Chief Pete Hegseth, and a journalist with The Atlantic magazine who was mistakenly included in the thread.
Waltz made the accusation during his Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker wasn’t having any of it. He laid into Waltz, accusing him of “profound cowardice” and of lying about “Signalgate.”
“It compounds what I think is disqualifying about you for this position. It also, to me, just shows profound cowardice,” Booker said. “You should step up right now.”
Delaware’s Democratic Sen. Chris Coons asked Waltz during the hearing, “Were you investigated for this disclosure of sensitive operational information on Signal?”
That’s when Waltz tried to blame the Biden administration for his use of the app.
“That engagement was driven by and recommended by the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency by the Biden administration CISA guidance,” Waltz claimed.
“The use of Signal is not only, as an encrypted app, is not only authorized, it was recommended in the Biden era CISA guidance,” he insisted.
Booker was amazed.
“What’s been troubling to me about your nomination from the beginning is your failure to just stand up and take accountability for mistakes that you made and that all Americans know that you’ve made,” Booker told Waltz.
“Everyone in this room, every one of us has made mistakes,” Booker continued. “But what Americans expect from leaders, especially leaders who are tasked with our national security or could be tasked with the position for what you’re nominated for, is for people to stand up and just take responsibility, take accountability, but I heard you just blame Biden.”
“I’ve seen you not only fail to stand up but lie,” Booker added.
On March 24, 2025, The Atlantic published a series of those Signal messages, which Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg received, and which included sensitive information about a U.S. military operation against the Houthis in Yemen.
Waltz continued trying to defend the use of Signal to discuss sensitive war plans.
“It says here,“ Waltz insisted while referring to a document, “I’ll read it to you, ‘Use only end-to-end encrypted communications, adopt a free messaging application to secure communications that guarantees an encryption, particularly if you are a highly targeted individual, such as Signal or similar apps.”
Waltz then denied that there was any classified information shared during the text exchanges that included Goldberg.
Coons continued to press Waltz. “You were sharing details about an upcoming air strike and the time of launch and the potential targets. I mean, this was demonstrably sensitive information.”
Coons asked whether Waltz had been disciplined for using Signal. Walz says a White House investigation is still underway into Signalgate and that there has been no disciplinary action taken.
“The use of Signal was not only authorized, it’s still authorized and highly recommended,” Waltz insisted.
When pressed on the point about sharing sensitive classified information on the app, Walz again deflected.
“We followed the recommendation, almost the demand, to use end-to-end encryption, but there was no classified information shared,” he insisted again.
Democrats have said otherwise, that certain details were classified and the country’s top defense officials under the Trump administration jeopardized the safety of troops involved in the operation in Yemen earlier this year
“The utter mind-boggling brazenness of Mike Waltz lying to a Senate committee like this about Signalgate calls these words to mind. No one seems to care anymore. I’m not sure why I do. Nostalgia, maybe?” Shoq posted on X above a quote from Hannah Arendt, one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century.
