Secretary of State Marco Rubio broke ranks and admitted “someone made a big mistake” by adding a journalist to a secret group chat about military action in Yemen.
His remark at a news conference in Jamaica Wednesday contrasted sharply with those of other Trump administration officials who have sought to downplay the severity of the leaks.
When asked by a reporter whether the administration should “own up” to the error to “preserve credibility,” Rubio said: “Let me just say on the Signal thing—this thing was set up for purposes of coordinating how everyone was going to call.”
“When these things happen, I need to call foreign ministers, especially of our close allies, we need to notify members of Congress,” he said. “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.”
“Obviously, someone made a mistake—someone made a big mistake and added a journalist,” Rubio continued. “Nothing against journalists, but you ain’t supposed to be on that thing. So they got on there and this happened.”
Rubio did not explicitly blame National Security Mike Waltz for the mistake. Waltz has already said he accepts “full responsibility” for the incident—President Trump has so far stood by him, calling Waltz a “good man” who “has learned a lesson.”
Rubio also attempted to distance himself from the other members of the chat—which included Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard—and claimed he only posted twice in the group to confirm some basic information.
But he also repeated the administration line that none of the information posted in the group was classified, despite it containing details of an upcoming military operation.
When asked whether the information was classified, Rubio said: “Well, the Pentagon says it was not. And not only did they say it was not, they made it very clear that it didn’t put anyone’s life in danger, or the mission.
“There were no war plans on there,” he added.
Other members of the administration, including Trump himself, have struggled to keep their story straight about the sensitivity of the information.
When asked on Wednesday whether he believed the information contained in the chats was unclassified, Trump said he wasn’t sure. “Well, that’s what I’ve heard. I don’t know. I’m not sure. You’ll have to ask the various people involved. I really don’t know,” he said.
His response appeared to contradict remarks he made a day prior, in which he was adamant no classified material had been shared.
“It wasn’t classified, as I understand it,” he told Newsmax on Tuesday. “There was no classified information. There was no problem, and the attack was a tremendous success. So I can only go by what I’ve been told. I wasn’t involved in it, but I was told by—and the other people weren’t involved at all. But I feel very comfortable, actually.”
Trump has also insisted that Hegseth “had nothing to do with this,” despite the defense secretary sharing details of strikes with the group.
White House insiders and analysts say the damage to Waltz’s credibility from the blunder may be irreparable.
“Waltz’s relationship with top White House staff was fraying before this,” White House Bureau Chief Dasha Burns told Politico. “And between the substance of the story and his handling of the fallout, the walls are closing in.”
Another White House source told the outlet: “He has no credibility because he continues to lie. Everyone is united against him. When you’re becoming a liability or a distraction for the president, it’s time to resign.”
Hegseth, meanwhile, is facing the heat due to escalating what was initially started as a chat for officials to organize their staff into a place to discuss war plans.
Robbie Gramer, a national security reporter at Politico, told Playbook: “Their argument is that Waltz created the group chat for a very routine and not classified reason: Asking principals who their main staffer would be to coordinate a meeting.”
“Had it ended there, [Atlantic Editor] Jeffrey Goldberg’s inclusion could’ve been nothing more than a minor snafu that became a funny item in Playbook,” Gramer added. “But it was Hegseth’s decision to use that group chat to type out highly sensitive, potentially classified information that turned this into the scandal it is.”
The Daily Beast has republished the chat’s messages in full, which can be read here.
