Punchbowl reporter Jake Sherman revealed that Senate Republicans may have "buyer's remorse" after allowing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to sail through confirmation.
Speaking to MSNBC on Wednesday, host Katy Tur noted "significant Republican" Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has indicated he's unhappy about what has been coined "Signalgate."
On Monday, a bombshell report in The Atlantic said Hegseth shared secret war plans in a Signal chat that included a reporter among its membership.
ALSO READ: 'Dancing around': Senator slams Trump officials for ducking questions over 'huge mistake'
The story reveals a Signal chat among top officials in President Donald Trump's Cabinet who discussed classified military strikes against the Houthis in Yemen.
"It's important to remember that Roger Wicker's support was critical, absolutely critical to getting Pete Hegseth across the finish line as defense secretary," said Sherman, noting he was a controversial nominee. It "was very tense and very tenuous at times. And it's not — interestingly, Wicker and Hegseth have had a series of disagreements over the last couple of weeks. We wrote about this this morning. And, it seems to me that there might be a case — or there's a potential for a case of buyer's remorse because they've just split on a whole host of issues. What is he looking for? He's looking for a probe."
Adding to the White House's problem: Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the top Democrat on the committee, is also standing with Wicker, Sherman said.
He continued, saying that "there are just a ton of people at the White House and up here," on Capitol Hill, "who say privately that the spin you're hearing publicly is just embarrassing. That this is a mistake. It was stupid. They shouldn't be chatting on Signal about war maneuvers, whatever you want to call them. Attack plans, war plans, whatever you want to call them, on Signal, on cell phones."
See the clip below or at the link here.
- YouTubeyoutu.be
