‘A Nothingburger’: Republican Senator Blasts Dem Hypocrisy Over ‘So-Called’ Signal Scandal

 Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) called the Inspector General report on the “so-called scandal” surrounding War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of a Signal chat a “nothingburger” on Sunday.

On ABC’s “This Week,” host George Stephanopoulos asked Schmitt about the Signal issue, quoting the Inspector General report.

“Here’s a quote from the Department of Defense Inspector General report on that release of sensitive information over the Signal app. According to the inspector general, ‘the Secretary sent information identifying the quantity and strike times of manned U.S. aircraft over hostile territory over an unapproved, unsecure network approximately two to four hours before the execution of those strikes. The Secretary’s actions created a risk to operational security that could have resulted in failed U.S. mission objectives and potential harm to U.S. pilots.’ Isn’t that a concern?” Stephanopoulos asked.

“I reviewed the IG report, and it’s a nothingburger. The fact is, there was allegations that this was confidential or classified information. … It wasn’t. There was no operational integrity problems,” Schmitt said, going on to note that both operations Rough Rider and Midnight Hammer were “executed flawlessly.”

 

“There’s no confidential or classified information that was disclosed,” the senator added before pivoting to highlight the legitimate scandal from the Biden administration in which former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin underwent an undisclosed medical procedure without notifying the president.

“Literally, we had a Secretary of Defense that wasn’t on duty, and nobody knew about it. Like, that’s a real problem. This was a nothingburger, and that’s what the IG report that I read last week in the SCIF indicated.”

Stephanopoulos pressed further, but Schmitt reiterated that no classified information was disclosed, and that Signal was “approved by the U.S. government for communications” before the “so-called scandal started.”

“But I think the bigger issue was, you know, in the previous administration, you had real operational risk, you had a department, you had a Secretary of Defense that was incapacitated in a surgery, and nobody knew about it for days. That’s a problem,” Schmitt concluded.