Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said Sunday that the calls for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s resignation are “way overkill” but added it would be “appropriate” for the inspector general to investigate how a reporter was included on a thread about military plans in Yemen.
Lankford — who is author of a new book, "Turnaround: America's Revival" —made the remarks in an interview with CNN in the aftermath of a week of turmoil that erupted when the editor of The Atlantic was inadvertently added to a thread on Signal where Hegseth and other White House national security officials were discussing strike plans against the Houthi terrorists.
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Lankford said he supports Hegseth.
“I don't see this as an issue of leadership. I've heard some people calling for his resignation. I think that's way overkill in this,” Lankford told CNN. “He is stepping in and has actually led a very successful first attack here on somebody that had attacked the United States over and over again during the Biden administration and had very limited response. Pete Hegseth is actually organized and coordinated an initial response to push back and make them stop.”
However, Lankford does agree with Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who said his committee will “look into” the snafu.
“It’s entirely appropriate for the inspector general to be able to look at it and to be able to [answer] two questions; one is, obviously, how did a reporter get into this thread in the conversation? 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?” Lankford said.
“Currently, it's through encrypted apps. It's how that communication happens. The next question is, Is that the right way to be able to do it? Obviously, that's the way it has been done for quite a while now while they're out on the road,” he added.
Lankford told Newsmax last week that the whole Signal affair was “much ado” about nothing.
"We're in an annual worldwide threats hearing where we're talking about Iran and about China and about the threats that are coming at our nation from cartels in Mexico, and the obsession on the Democrats were, 'Tell me a little bit more about this internal chat,'" Lankford told Newsmax. "I will tell you, every single one of the senators there has a group chat about something where they're talking through logistics, talking through ideas and such."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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