Democrats Call for Hegseth and Waltz to Resign

Several Democrats in Congress called on Tuesday for the resignations of Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, and Michael Waltz, the national security adviser, over their involvement in a Signal group chat discussing U.S. strikes in Yemen.

Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, criticized both Mr. Hegseth and Mr. Waltz during a hearing on Tuesday, where he said that others who had discussed sensitive defense information in an unclassified chat would most likely have been fired. He went further on social media.

“When the stakes are this high, incompetence is not an option,” he wrote in a post on social media. “Pete Hegseth should resign. Mike Waltz should resign.”

Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon concurred during the same hearing, which was scheduled before The Atlantic reported on Monday about the Signal chat and quickly overtook the original agenda. “I am of the view that there ought to be resignations, starting with the national security adviser and the secretary of defense,” Mr. Wyden said.

In a letter to President Trump on Tuesday, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries became the highest-ranking Democrat to demand the defense secretary be terminated, saying he was “unqualified” and a national security risk.

“The so-called secretary of defense recklessly and casually disclosed highly sensitive war plans — including the timing of a pending attack, possible strike targets and the weapons to be used — during an unclassified national security group chat that inexplicably included a reporter,” Mr. Jeffries wrote. “His behavior shocks the conscience, risked American lives and likely violated the law.”

In the group message, Mr. Hegseth discussed specific operational details just hours before U.S. troops began attacking the Houthi militia in Yemen, according to The Atlantic. Mr. Waltz inadvertently added Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, to the group chat, which also included other top officials such as the C.I.A. director, John Ratcliffe; the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard; and Vice President JD Vance.

While some Republican lawmakers have called for an investigation, most have shied away from criticizing the Trump administration and have refrained from calling on any officials to step down.

Even those Democrats calling for resignations were not united in scope. Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois and a combat veteran, said on MSNBC that everyone who participated in the Signal chat should be fired or resign.

During a news conference, Representative Ted Lieu of California, a member of House Democrats’ leadership, singled out only Mr. Hegseth for resignation but said that “everyone on that text chain needs to go take some courses on how to deal with national security classified information.”