Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed Signalgate at a press conference in Kingston, Jamaica, on Thursday, admitting that someone made a “big mistake” by adding a journalist to a group chat of top Trump administration officials about strikes on Yemen.
“This thing was set up for purposes of coordinating how everyone was going to call — you know, when these things happen, I need to call foreign ministers, especially of our close allies. We need to notify members of Congress. Other members of the team have different people they need to notify as well. And that was the purpose of why it was set up,” Rubio said.
“Obviously, someone made a mistake. Someone made a big mistake and added a journalist,” Rubio admitted. “Nothing against journalists, but you ain’t supposed to be on that thing.”
“I can speak to myself and my presence on it,” Rubio continued. “I contributed to it twice. I identified my point of contact, which is my chief of staff. And then later on, I think three hours after the White House’s official announcements had been made, I congratulated the members of the team.”
“I’ve been assured by the Pentagon and everyone involved that none of the information that was on there — though not intended to be divulged, obviously that was a mistake, and that shouldn’t have happened, and the White House is looking at it — but that none of the information on there at any point threatened the operation or the lives of our servicemen,” the secretary added. “And, in fact, it was a very successful operation, and it’s an ongoing operation.”
