Lankford calls for inspector general to investigate Signalgate

Source: Politico

03/30/2025 10:55 AM EDT


Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) on Sunday said an independent investigation into Trump administration officials’ discussion of attack plans on the Signal messaging app is “entirely appropriate” — making him only one of the few notable Republicans to publicly call for further probing into the incident.

The accidental inclusion of Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, in a Signal group chat with top White House officials to discuss an airstrike on the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen has rattled Washington over the past week, sparking bipartisan national security concerns.

“It’s entirely appropriate for the inspector general to be able to look at it,” Lankford said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Two questions. One is obviously, how did a reporter get into this thread in the conversation?” Lankford continued. “And the second part of the conversation is when individuals from the administration are not sitting at their desk in a classified setting on a classified computer, how do they communicate to each other?” Trump administration officials have largely downplayed the situation, touting the success of the attack and repeatedly insisting that none of the details discussed in the messaging chain were “classified.”

But behind closed doors, top administration advisers have reportedly suggested President Donald Trump remove Waltz. Lankford isn’t the only Republican pushing for an investigation. Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the panel’s top Democrat, wrote a letter to the Pentagon’s acting inspector general last week requesting an independent investigation into the situation. But most other Republicans are urging their colleagues to move on from the scandal.

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