BURSTRep. Jimmy Gomez’s (D-Calif.) questions about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s drinking habits sparked fury from intelligence leaders at a House committee hearing Wednesday.
The House Intelligence Committee's annual worldwide threats assessment hearing had been scheduled long before The Atlantic reported top Trump national security officials used a Signal group chat to discuss forthcoming strikes on the Houthis in Yemen earlier this month — and mistakenly included a reporter in the group.
But the breach was a central topic throughout the hearing.
“A lot of questions were brought up regarding his drinking habits at his confirmation hearing. To your knowledge, do you know whether Pete Hegseth had been drinking before he leaked classified information?” Gomez asked.
“I don't have any knowledge of Secretary Hegseth’s personal habits,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe responded.
Then he continued, “No, you know, no. I'm not going to answer that. I think that's an offensive line of question. The answer is, no,” he said.
Gomez argued the question was “top of mind” for the public.
“I have huge respect for the CIA, huge respect for men and women in uniform. But this was a question that's on the top of minds of every American, right? He stood in front of the podium in Europe holding a drink. So, of course we want to know if his performance is compromised,” Gomez said.
Ratcliffe said he was annoyed by the focus on the Signal chat instead of other threats that would typically be reviewed in the annual worldwide threats hearing.
“We're getting questions about whether or not someone has drinking habits. And, you know, I just wish in an annual threats hearing, where the American people want to hear about threats, that that's what we would be talking about,” he said.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard also defended Hegseth.
“Secretary Hegseth, in my experience, has continued to operate in the way that President Trump's confidence in him inspires, which is in the best interest of the American people and our war-fighters and ensuring our national security. I think it's wrong to impugn him, especially at a point where he is not here to defend his own honor,” she said.
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) later criticized the national security leaders for being dismissive of the focus on the Signal chat.
“I find it offensive for you to accuse me, as a Democrat, of not caring about national threats. I very much wanted to talk about those. In fact, I had prepared questions in advance of this hearing about those threats, specifically about biosecurity and bioterrorism, but I don't have time to ask those questions,” she said, noting that the committee now had to focus on oversight. “I need to ask these questions. It's my job to ask these questions of you.”