Rubio breaks silence on leaked Signal chat: ‘Someone made a big mistake’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, for the first time, on Wednesday addressed the Signal-chat controversy and conceded that "someone made a big mistake" when a journalist from The Atlantic was added to a Signal text chain that included Washington’s top national security heads. 

"This thing was set up for purposes of coordinating," Rubio told reporters from Jamaica, noting the point of the text exchange carried out on the encrypted messaging application was purely so that officials knew how to communicate with their various counterparts. 

But the revelation that potentially classified information was exchanged on a site that has been the target of Russian hackers, and that the chain included an editor from The Atlantic, sent shock waves globally — though the Pentagon maintains that no classified intelligence was exchanged in the messages.

"Obviously, someone made a mistake. Someone made a big mistake and added a journalist," Rubio said. "Nothing against journalists. But you ain't supposed to be on that thing."

"I contributed to it twice. I identified my point of contact, which is my chief of staff, and then later on, I think three hours after the White House's official announcements had been made, I congratulated the members of the team," he continued. 

Rubio said that though the information was not technically classified nor did it at "any point threaten the operation of the lives of our servicemen," the information was "not intended to be divulged" and the White House was investigating the matter. 

President Donald Trump has downplayed the severity of the lapse, noting it was "the only glitch in two months" his administration has faced and told NBC News the debacle "turned out not to be a serious one."

National security advisor Mike Waltz, who reportedly set up the text chain and accidentally added the Atlantic editor, told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham that he took "full responsibility" for the "embarrassing" mishap.

Similarly, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Wednesday told the House Intelligence Committee it was a "mistake" to include a reporter in a text group that included "candid and sensitive" information.

She also maintained that the texts did not include any classified information while testifying in front of senators on Tuesday. 

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