Garamendi Responds to Signalgate IG Report

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA-08), a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee and Ranking Member of the Readiness Subcommittee, released the following statement in response to the Department of Defense Inspector General’s report on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s leaking of classified information on Signal earlier this year:

“This report confirms what we’ve known all along: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s incompetence and reckless behavior put our national security and the lives of our servicemembers at risk. On the very first page of the report, the IG makes clear that the information Hegseth sent in a Signal chat with a news reporter was classified. Despite what the Trump Administration claims, this report does not ‘exonerate’ Hegseth in the slightest- it's damning.

“If any other member of the military had committed this same grave breach of protocol, they would have been immediately removed from their position. But because Pete Hegseth’s sole qualification is loyalty to Trump, he’ll continue serving in a role he is indisputably unqualified to hold. Hegseth and Trump may preach accountability, but their actions tell an entirely different story.

“I call on Secretary Hegseth to appear before a televised House Armed Services Committee hearing next week to answer for his reckless leaking of classified information and his allegedly criminal order to kill unarmed survivors off the coast of Venezuela. If he has nothing to hide, he should explain his actions in full view of the American people rather than hide behind closed doors.”

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