More than 30 Senate Democrats have called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to appoint a special counsel to investigate the Houthi Signal chat scandal, as the White House insists the case is closed on how a journalist was looped into high-level military discussions.
“In addition to the reckless inclusion of a journalist in the chat, we are deeply concerned about this serious breach in the proper handling of such information and deliberations," 31 Senate Democrats wrote in a 6-page Monday letter to Bondi.
"Given the extraordinary circumstances of this shocking incident and the significant public interests at stake, it is imperative that you immediately appoint a Special Counsel to thoroughly and impartially investigate whether any of the government officials involved violated federal criminal law,”
The lawmakers said appointing a special counsel is “appropriate” in cases where the Department of Justice (DOJ) “may have a conflict of interest or extraordinary circumstances are present, a criminal investigation is warranted, and it is in the public interest to appoint an outside Special Counsel to investigate the matter.”
“Such circumstances are clearly present here,” they added.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday that the White House had wrapped up its probe into how The Atlantic’s top editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, was inadvertently added to the thread where upcoming military strikes in the Middle East were discussed.
Leavitt said steps have been taken to make sure “something like that can obviously never happen again moving forward” and “this case has been closed here at the White House, as far as we are concerned.”
Senators argued in the letter that these “shockingly reckless breaches” of security protocols for protecting classified and sensitive information “clearly warrant an investigation into whether any of the government officials involved violated federal laws pertaining to the proper safeguarding and preservation of such information.”
“For example, gross negligence in handling national defense information may violate the Espionage Act. Importantly, other laws, including the Federal Records Act, require the preservation of certain government records,” the lawmakers said, adding that “destruction of government records or property may constitute a violation of various criminal statutes.”
In the House, Intelligence Committee Democrats asked for an independent assessment of the officials’ use of Signal to talk about airstrikes in mid-March. They asked Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to spearhead the process and then hand it to another official.
The Monday letter to Bondi was signed by Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), along with Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Cory Booker (N.J.), Adam Schiff (Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), Tim Kaine (Va.), Ben Ray Luján (N.M.), Peter Welch (Vt.), Jack Reed (R.I.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Andy Kim (N.J.), Jacky Rosen (Nev.), Chris Coons (Del.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Tina Smith (Minn.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (Del.), Raphael Warnock (Ga.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Alex Padilla (Calif.), Tammy Baldwin (Wisc.), John Fetterman (Pa.), Elissa Slotkin (Mich.), Patty Murray (Wash.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Ed Markey (Mass.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Ruben Gallego (Ariz.) and Gary Peters (Mich.).
The Hill has reached out to the DOJ for comment.
