Administration says Democrats shouldn't be outraged

But on Tuesday, top administration officials were insistent the Democratic outrage was misplaced.

Ratcliffe and Gabbard told lawmakers that no classified information was included in the texts about U.S. attack plans in the message chain.

But The Atlantic reported that the messages included precise information about weapons packages, targets and timing, but did not publish those details.

Pressed on whether such information should be classified, Gabbard hedged. “I defer to the secretary of defense, the National Security Council, on that question,” she said.

Ratcliffe in one exchange with lawmakers said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth held the authority on determining whether the information in the message chain was classified.

Hegseth has dodged questions about whether the information he put in a Signal chat was classified. On Tuesday while in Hawaii, he repeated almost word for word his short statement from the day before that “nobody’s texting war plans, and that’s all I have to say about that.”

Democrats pushed back, saying the leaked military plans show a sloppy disregard for security, but Ratcliffe insisted no rules were violated.

“My communications to be clear in the Signal message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information,” Ratcliffe told lawmakers in the hearing that was supposed to be focused on global security threats.

Facing heated questions from Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, Gabbard said there’s a difference between “inadvertent” releases of information and intentional leaks. “There was no classified material that was shared,” Gabbard said.

Warner, though, said the lapse in security could have cost lives.

“If this information had gotten out, American lives could have been lost. If the Houthis had this information they could reposition their defensive systems,” Warner said.

Waltz in his appearance on Fox said that while all the information in the exchange was unclassified he'd prefer it remain out of the public eye. “I certainly want our deliberations to stay confidential,” he said.

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