Kingston: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has admitted that including a journalist in a group of military chat about air strikes was a “big mistake” and promised reforms to prevent it from happening again.
“Of course, someone made a mistake – someone made a big mistake – and added a journalist. Nothing against journalists, but you shouldn’t be on that thing,” Rubio told a news conference in Jamaica as the series dominated headlines for a third day.
“I think there will be reforms and changes made so this never – so this will not happen again,” he said.
Rubio did not assume the blame, but quickly noticed that he only participated twice in the chat – once to award a representative and later to congratulate us after a public announcement of the strikes on Yemen.
Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, said he was inadvertently added to the chat on commercial app signal by Mike Waltz, National Security Advisor, and that defense secretary Pete Hegeth revealed strike plans through it.
Rubio repeated the Trump administration’s claim that “none of the information that at any time threatened the operation or the lives of our officials.”
The messages, as it was released by the Atlantic Ocean, showed a gap in the decision to beat the Houthi rebels, with Vice President JD Vancce, who said the United States once again “saved” Europe, more affected by the rebels’ disturbances to Red Sea Shipping.
Hegeth, in the exchange, agreed that the “European freeloading” was “pathetic.”
Rubio was asked for his reaction as America’s top diplomat, and seemed to support the strikes.
“I think the point I would do is not, we will get someone to pay or not. It is (that) everyone has to acknowledge that we are doing the world a great advantage of going for these guys because this cannot continue,” he said.
