Ranking Member Connolly Requests Transcribed Interviews with Defense Officials Fired in Aftermath of “Signalgate”

Washington, D.C. (April 29, 2025)— Today, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent letters to former Department of Defense (DoD) Senior Advisor Dan Caldwell, DoD Secretary Hegseth’s former Deputy Chief of Staff Darin Selnick, former Chief of Staff to the Deputy Defense Secretary Colin Carroll, former Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defense Joe Kasper, and former chief Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot requesting transcribed interviews as part of the Committee’s investigation into reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discussed highly sensitive, likely classified plans for a military operation in Yemen on the Signal messaging application and on his personal device.  

Ranking Member Connolly’s invitation to Mr. Caldwell, Mr. Selnick, and Mr. Carroll comes after these three DoD officials were accused of leaking unauthorized information and fired, allegations which they have denied.  Mr. Ullyot recently resigned from the Pentagon in the midst of the “Signalgate” turmoil.

Since Committee Democrats launched their investigation in March, additional reporting has come to light indicating that Secretary Hegseth also shared sensitive attack plans in a separate Signal group titled “Defense | Team Huddle” which included people without security clearances, including his wife, brother, personal lawyer, and “about a dozen other people from his personal and professional inner circle.”

“The Committee has reason to believe that you have knowledge concerning the dissemination of sensitive and/or classified national security information on Signal or other unofficial messaging applications or platforms, the manner in which senior government officials and other government personnel have used Signal or other such applications or platforms to conduct official government communications, the extent to which federal officials and personnel may have engaged in improper use of their personal devices to participate in communications concerning official government business or matters of national security, and the deliberate dissemination of sensitive and/or classified information to individuals unauthorized to access, possess, or receive such information,” wrote Ranking Member Connolly. 

Today’s requests for transcribed interviews builds on Ranking Member Connolly and Oversight Democrats’ multifront investigation into the use of Signal by the Trump Administration’s highest-ranking national security officials to discuss highly sensitive, likely classified plans in a manner that endangers the lives of servicemembers and skirts federal records laws and national security protocols.

• On March 25, 2025, Ranking Member Connolly and Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost sent a letter to several members of the National Security Council and White House Cabinet members involved in the group chat advising them to preserve records in accordance with the law as Committee Democrats launched an investigation into this catastrophic and confounding security breach.
   
• On March 26, 2025, Committee Democrats sent a letter to the above mentioned Signal chat participants demanding an immediate briefing on how and why America’s national security secrets ended up in a group chat on an unauthorized messaging app that included a journalist.  
   
• On March 27, 2025, Ranking Member Connolly sent a letter to inspectors general at the Department of Defense, Department of State, Department of Treasury, and Central Intelligence Agency, and to Counsel to the President David Warrington demanding a multifront investigation into the exposure of likely classified information in the unsecure Signal chat.  
   
• That same day, the Members urged Chairman Comer to schedule a hearing on the reckless, unauthorized disclosure of unclassified information. 

“The Democratic Members of the Committee seek to determine whether legislation is appropriate to ensure the proper handling of sensitive and/or classified information concerning U.S. national security by federal officials and personnel, prevent unauthorized disclosure of such information, ensure that official government communications take place on authorized platforms and devices, and make certain that federal records are handled and preserved in accordance with the Federal Records Act, Presidential Records Act, and all other applicable federal laws and regulations.  Accordingly, I request your appearance for a transcribed interview on May 13, 2025, to answer questions regarding the above matters,” concluded Ranking Member Connolly. 

Click here to read the letters.

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