President Donald Trump on Tuesday downplayed the texting of sensitive plans for a military strike against Yemen's Houthis this month to a group chat that included a journalist, saying it was 맥스카지노�the only glitch in two months맥스카지노� of his administration as Democratic lawmakers heaped criticism on the administration for handling highly sensitive information carelessly.Trump told NBC News that the lapse 맥스카지노�turned out not to be a serious one," and expressed his continued support for national security adviser Mike Waltz.Waltz, according to an article posted online Monday by The Atlantic, appeared to have mistakenly added the magazine's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, to a chat that included 18 senior administration officials discussing planning for the strike.맥스카지노�Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he맥스카지노�s a good man," Trump said. He also appeared to point blame on an unnamed Waltz aide for Goldberg being added to the chain. 맥스카지노�It was one of Michael맥스카지노�s people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there."But the use of messaging app Signal to discuss a sensitive operation has opened the administration to blistering criticism from Democratic lawmakers who expressed outrage at the White House's and senior administration officials' insistence that no classified information was shared. Senior administration officials have struggled to explain why the publicly available app was used to discuss such a delicate matter.Video below: Gabbard, Ratcliffe asked about Signal group chatWaltz makes his first public commentsWaltz said Tuesday he was not sure how Goldberg ended up on the chat."This one in particular, I맥스카지노�ve never met, don맥스카지노�t know, never communicated with,맥스카지노� Waltz said.Later Tuesday, Waltz said in an appearance on Fox News Channel's 맥스카지노�The Ingraham Angle맥스카지노� that he built the message chain and that White House technical experts were trying to figure out how Goldberg's contact 맥스카지노�may have been sucked in.맥스카지노�맥스카지노�We made a mistake. We맥스카지노�re moving forward," said Waltz, who added that he took 맥스카지노�full responsibility맥스카지노� for the episode.Trump, for his part, continued to attack The Atlantic and Goldberg and sent mixed messages on whether the administration would change how it goes about sharing sensitive information going forward.맥스카지노�We won맥스카지노�t be using it very much맥스카지노� in the future, Trump said of Signal. "That맥스카지노�s one of the prices you pay when you맥스카지노�re not sitting in the Situation Room with no phones on, which is always the best, frankly."Trump added, 맥스카지노�If it was up to me everybody would be sitting in a room together. The room would have solid lead walls and a lead ceiling and lead floor.맥스카지노�One official reported to be on the Signal chain, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, acknowledged during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday that she was traveling overseas during the exchange. She wouldn't say whether she was using her personal or government-issued phone because the matter is under review by the White House National Security Council.One Democrat calls the mistake 맥스카지노�an embarrassment맥스카지노�Both Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who also was a participant in the Signal exchange and also testified at Tuesday's intelligence hearing, faced blistering criticism from lawmakers."Director Ratcliffe, this was a huge mistake, correct?맥스카지노� Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, asked.After a brief pause, Ratcliffe shook his head. 맥스카지노�No,맥스카지노� he said.Ratcliffe attempted to interject as Ossoff asked a follow-up question, leading the two men to speak over each other.맥스카지노�This is an embarrassment,맥스카지노� Ossoff said, silencing Ratcliffe. 맥스카지노�This is utterly unprofessional. There맥스카지노�s been no apology. There has been no recognition of the gravity of this error.맥스카지노�In the run-up to his 2016 election victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump urged criminal prosecution of the former secretary of state for communicating about classified information with her aides on a private email server she set up. The matter was investigated, but the FBI ultimately recommended against charges. None were brought.Clinton was among Democrats this week to criticize Trump administration officials' use of Signal.맥스카지노�You have got to be kidding me,맥스카지노� Clinton said in an X post that spotlighted The Atlantic article and included an eyes emoji.Trump also faced charges for mishandling classified information at his Mar-a-Lago resort following his first White House term. Those charges were later dismissed.Administration says Democrats shouldn't be outragedBut on Tuesday, top administration officials were insistent the Democratic outrage was misplaced.Ratcliffe and Gabbard told lawmakers that no classified information was included in the texts about U.S. attack plans in the message chain.But The Atlantic reported that the messages included precise information about weapons packages, targets and timing, but did not publish those details.Pressed on whether such information should be classified, Gabbard hedged. 맥스카지노�I defer to the secretary of defense, the National Security Council, on that question,맥스카지노� she said.Ratcliffe in one exchange with lawmakers said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth held the authority on determining whether the information in the message chain was classified.Hegseth in comments hours after The Atlantic story published did not directly answer questions about whether the information message chain was classified.맥스카지노�Nobody was texting war plans and that맥스카지노�s all I have to say about that,맥스카지노� Hegseth said in an exchange with reporters on Monday at the start of a trip to the Indo-Pacific.Democrats pushed back, saying the leaked military plans show a sloppy disregard for security, but Ratcliffe insisted no rules were violated.맥스카지노�My communications to be clear in the Signal message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information,맥스카지노� Ratcliffe told lawmakers in the hearing that was supposed to be focused on global security threats.Facing heated questions from Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, Gabbard said there맥스카지노�s a difference between 맥스카지노�inadvertent맥스카지노� releases of information and intentional leaks. 맥스카지노�There was no classified material that was shared,맥스카지노� Gabbard said.Warner, though, said the lapse in security could have cost lives.맥스카지노�If this information had gotten out, American lives could have been lost. If the Houthis had this information they could reposition their defensive systems,맥스카지노� Warner said.Waltz in his appearance on Fox said that while all the information in the exchange was unclassified he'd prefer it remain out of the public eye. 맥스카지노�I certainly want our deliberations to stay confidential,맥스카지노� he said.Video below: Hegseth responds to report about war plan leaks to journalist in group chatCalls for an investigationIn response to questions from Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Gabbard and Ratcliffe said they would participate in an audit looking into administration officials' use of Signal. Wyden said it must be investigated.맥스카지노�I맥스카지노�m of the view that there ought to be resignations,맥스카지노� Wyden said.FBI Director Kash Patel, appearing with Ratcliffe and Gabbard at the hearing, said he was only recently briefed on the Signal chat matter and doesn맥스카지노�t have an update on whether the FBI has opened an investigation into it. Warner asked for an update by the end of the day.The White House in a statement Tuesday called the uproar a 맥스카지노�coordinated effort to distract from the successful actions taken by President Trump and his administration to make America맥스카지노�s enemies pay and keep Americans safe.맥스카지노�Examining the security of SignalSignal is an app that can be used for direct messaging and group chats as well as phone and video calls. It uses end-to-end encryption for its messaging and calling services that prevents any third party from viewing conversation content or listening in on calls.In other words, messages and calls sent on Signal are scrambled; only the sender and recipient at each end will have the key to decipher them.Signal맥스카지노�s encryption protocol is open source, meaning that it맥스카지노�s freely available for anyone to inspect, use or modify. The encryption protocol is also used by another popular chat service, social media company Meta맥스카지노�s WhatsApp platform.Government officials have used Signal for organizational correspondence, such as scheduling sensitive meetings.Sen. Angus King, a Maine Independent, said he was flummoxed by Ratcliffe and Gabbard's assertion that no classified information was included in the chat.맥스카지노�It맥스카지노�s hard for me to believe that targets and timing and weapons would not have been classified,맥스카지노� he said.___AP writer Kelvin Chan in London and Darlene Superville contributed reporting.