Republican Senator Roger Wicker, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and ranking Democrat Jack Reed wrote to a Pentagon watchdog asking it to "conduct an inquiry" into the incident.
The Atlantic magazine published the full chat -- which Trump's top security officials conducted on the commercially available app Signal rather than on a secure government platform -- after its editor was mistakenly looped in.
Republican Trump has dismissed the scandal as a "witch-hunt" and backed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, despite the fact that Hegseth used the app to discuss precise timings of the strikes shortly before they happened and aircraft types involved.
The president told reporters on Wednesday that the prospect of a watchdog investigation "doesn't bother me."
But Democrats have claimed that the lives of US service members could have been put at risk by the breach, and the row has raised serious questions about potential intelligence risks.
In their letter, Wicker and Reed asked the Pentagon's acting inspector general to look into the "facts and circumstances," whether classified material was shared, and the security of communications.
"If true, this reporting raises questions as to the use of unclassified networks to discuss sensitive and classified information," they said of The Atlantic's story about the chat.
- 'Mistake' -
Wicker said on Wednesday that the information shared in the chat "appears to me to be of such a sensitive nature that based on my knowledge, I would have wanted it classified."
But the White House has gone on the offensive, denying that any classified material was shared and attacking Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, who revealed that he had been erroneously added into the supposedly secret chat group.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that "we have never denied that this was a mistake" and insisted that National Security advisor Mike Waltz had taken "responsibility" for including Goldberg.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday that the breach was unlikely to face a criminal investigation.
"It was sensitive information, not classified, and inadvertently released, and what we should be talking about is that it was a very successful mission," Bondi told a news conference.
Trump and his top officials have repeatedly tried to turn the conversation towards the strikes themselves that began on March 15.
Washington has vowed to use overwhelming force against the Huthis until they stop firing on vessels in the key shipping routes of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, with the rebels threatening to resume attacks in protest over the Gaza war.
The Huthis said Thursday they targeted an Israeli airport and army site as well as a US warship, soon after Israel reported intercepting missiles launched from Yemen.
Jeffrey Goldberg, journalist in 'Signalgate' chat scandal -- and Trumpworld target
Washington (AFP) Mar 27, 2025 -
Atlantic magazine editor Jeffrey Goldberg has been propelled to global fame -- and put under immense pressure -- after being inadvertently added to a group chat in which top US officials shared secret plans for Yemen air strikes.
He has been roundly attacked by President Donald Trump, as well as by other officials, after publishing details of the sensitive exchanges on the Signal app in the run up to US strikes on rebel Houthis.
Goldberg says the attacks on him are expected but misguided.
"This is their move. You never defend, just attack," said Goldberg, 59, in an interview with the BBC.
"I'm sitting there, minding my own business. They invite me into this Signal chat and now they're attacking me as a sleaze bag, I don't even get it," he said. "Maybe they should spend a little time thinking about why I was invited into the chat in the first place."
- Rising US journalism star -
Born into a Jewish New York family, Goldberg migrated to Israel in the 1980s.
He briefly served in the Israeli army during the first Intifada, or Palestinian uprising, including a stint as a guard at a Palestinian detention camp, an experience he recounts in a book on the issue.
Back in the United States, he launched a stellar career with a job covering the police for The Washington Post, before moving to the prestigious New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker, according to The Atlantic's website.
He joined the Atlantic in 2007, becoming its fifteenth editor-in-chief in 2016, a position he still holds today.
- The Atlantic success story -
Founded in 1857 in Boston, the magazine was originally a literary and cultural monthly, publishing notable authors and essays on contemporary issues -- with a particular focus on the abolition of slavery.
After cutting back publication from 12 issues annually to 10, amid severe economic headwinds for traditional US media, The Atlantic has enjoyed a revival under Goldberg's editorship.
It announced last year that it had surpassed one million subscribers and was once again profitable, after winning three Pulitzer Prizes -- in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
- A tempestuous history with Trump -
Goldberg previously drew Trump's ire in 2020 for an article in which he reported senior US military officers hearing the president call soldiers killed in World War I "losers."
Monday's article about his stunning inclusion in the Yemen strikes chat on Signal won him further opprobrium from the White House.
Trump said: "I just know Goldberg. He's a sleazebag. You know, his magazine's terrible." A White House spokesperson, Taylor Budowich, described The Atlantic as "scumbags."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who revealed secret attack plans in the chat while Goldberg was included, branded him a "deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who has made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again."
The Atlantic has endorsed Trump's Democratic rivals for the White House since 2016.
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