During a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday, U.S. Representative Chrissy Houlahan (D, Pa.) put National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard on the spot, forcing her to make a critical commitment to “follow the law” and investigate the leak of classified information related to the Trump administration’s plans to attack Houthi targets in Yemen.
“This committee set up a law called 50 USC 3235a, which requires you, as the DNI, to quickly notify Congress and the Intelligence Committee if you know about any serious unauthorized leaks or compromises of classified information. I would argue this situation has all the signs of being just that,” Houlahan said. “So, if you, as the DNI chief, are aware of something like this, you have to report it to us.”
Houlahan then pressed Gabbard further, asking, “Do you think this qualifies as something that needs an investigation?”
Gabbard deflected responsibility, suggesting that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was the one with the authority to classify Defense Department information.
“This chat wasn’t a Defense Department chat. It wasn’t labeled as such. It was a chat with many different people,” Houlahan shot back, making it clear that Gabbard had a legal obligation to act.
“Don’t you think this is important to look into?” Houlahan pressed again.
Gabbard responded, “The National Security Council is investigating this leak,” referring to the probe led by national security adviser Mike Waltz, who was involved in creating the Signal chat and adding The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief to it.
Gabbard then shifted the focus back to Hegseth. However, Houlahan cut her off, arguing that Hegseth should likely resign due to the serious and illegal nature of the leaks.
“I want you to commit to following the law and investigating this leak. There’s likely more than just this one incident. If there’s one, there are probably others. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” Houlahan urged. “Will you commit to that investigation?”
Gabbard hesitated before responding, “Congresswoman, yes, I will follow the law.”
You can watch the full exchange in the video below:
Democratic House Rep. Chrissy Houlahan checkmated Tulsi Gabbard who admitted to the House Intelligence Committee that it was "inadvertent leak."
Boom!!!!!!
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— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) March 26, 2025
