During an interview aired on Wednesday’s broadcast of “PBS NewsHour,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) stated there was “clearly classified” in the Trump administration’s Signal chat and “If I would have done this in the Air Force, I would have lost my clearance. I probably would have gotten an Article 15, which is nonjudicial punishment. It would have probably prevented me from being promoted.”
Bacon stated, “I think it’s clearly classified. So, they’re digging themselves a bigger hole. They should just be straightforward and honest, say, we screwed up. Now, I want to say the operation itself, I praise it. … But there’s no doubt, when you start saying, two hours before an operation, we’re going to launch these aircraft at this time or we’re going to have bombs go off at this time, and you’re talking about Yemen, that is classified.” And that if the information had gotten to the Houthis, it could have put American troops in danger.
Co-host Amna Nawaz then asked, “So, if this was a breach and it puts our forces at risk, what does accountability look like? We know Mike Waltz added the journalist, Jeff Goldberg to the chat. Pete Hegseth posted the information. Should they be fired?”
Bacon responded, “I am not prepared to say that. I do want to thank Mike Waltz for coming online to say, hey, it was my fault for adding the journalist. And that’s what you want to see. You want to see someone take responsibility. … The secretary is still in denial, though, that he did anything wrong. And I think that that reflects worse than the actual incident, when you can’t own up to a mistake. So, I think the jury’s still out, and I’m a little reluctant to say, fire this or do that. I just — I want accountability from the individual taking responsibility. And that’s where I’m at.”
Nawaz then asked, “But is taking responsibility enough for you? If accountability is what you want to see — for instance, if someone in your command when you were in the military disclosed information like this, they would have been prosecuted. There would have been some kind of accountability. What does that look like here? And if there’s no accountability, what message does that send?”
Bacon answered, “Well, you’re right. If I would have done this in the Air Force, I would have lost my clearance. I probably would have gotten an Article 15, which is nonjudicial punishment. It would have probably prevented me from being promoted. So, you’re absolutely right. I also know we’re dealing with a secretary of defense. He made a mistake. I’m more worried by the fact that he won’t admit it.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
