'Entirely appropriate': GOP senator jumps on investigate Signal war chat bandwagon

Add Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) to the list of Republican lawmakers calling for an investigation high-ranking Donald Trump officials who engaged in a chat on the Signal app where they discussed an upcoming military attack on Yemen with a journalist mistakenly invited to listen in.

Speaking with CNN's Dana Bash, the conservative from Oklahoma didn't pause when asked if an investigation is warranted about comments made by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth who shared blow-by-blow assault plans with his colleagues that have since alarmed military officials.

"I want to get straight to this question of this potential national security breach," the CNN host prompted her guest. "The Senate Armed Services Committee chair, Roger Wicker, he said the incident, quote, 'Raises questions as to the use of unclassified networks to discuss sensitive and classified information.'"

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"He wants the Pentagon inspector general to investigate," she added. "Do you also want an independent investigation into how all of this happened? "

"It's entirely appropriate for the inspector general to be able to look at it and to be able to answer two questions," the GOP senator replied. "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?"

"Currently, it's through encrypted apps , it's how that communication happens," he added. "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."

"The national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said it was a mistake to use Signal," Bash pressed. "He has taken responsibility. The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has not, even though he's the one who shared this specific information about the timing and aircraft being used in this strike. Should he take responsibility as well, senator.?"

"I think he just joined into an encrypted app," he replied. "I don't see it as much of an issue because, again, they all believe that this was a closed circle of conversation. He was trying to give each other a heads up of what's about to happen, as we had given a heads up to our foreign partners overseas as well, to let them know what was about to happen as well. So this is this is normal communication on it. What's not normal is having a reporter in the middle of it."

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