Members of Congress say everything is on the table -- from firings to criminal probes -- in response to Trump admin's shocking incompetence in leak of war plans

Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth (Getty)

Members of Congress reacted angrily Monday to news that members of the Trump administration had inadvertently included a journalist on an electronic discussion of sensitive U.S. military operations, mentioning a range of possible repercussions -- from firings to criminal investigations to Congressional probes. A report at Axios, under the headline "Heads should roll": Congress erupts over stunning Trump admin leak, has details:

Members of Congress in both parties exploded in anger Monday after the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic revealed he was inadvertently included in a highly sensitive Trump administration Signal chat on airstrikes in Yemen.

Why it matters: Some Democrats are already calling for an investigation and potential repercussions against the national security officials involved in the lapse.

• "This is an outrageous national security breach and heads should roll," Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), a member of the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement to Axios.
• He added: "We need a full investigation and hearing into this on the House Armed Services Committee, ASAP."
• "We can't chalk this up to a simple mistake — people should be fired for this," said Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), another Armed Services Committee member.

Between the lines: People identifying as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, national security adviser Michael Waltz and Vice President Vance were among the 18 people in the Signal chat, per The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg.

• "At this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain," National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a statement.
• "The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our service members or our national security," Hughes said.

Zoom in: Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), another Armed Services Committee member and a former Air Force brigadier general, told Axios, "I've accidentally sent the wrong person a text. We all have."

• But, he added, "The unconscionable action was sending this info over non-secure networks."
• "None of this should have been sent on non-secure systems. Russia and China are surely monitoring [Hegseth's] unclassified phone," Bacon said.
• Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said in a post on X: "Safeguards must be put in place to ensure this never happens again."

Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisc.), in a phone interview with Axios, argued there needs to be some form of "administrative accountability" — such as retraining — if the breach was a mistake.

• If it was intentional, Van Orden said, there should be "legal accountability." He asserted such reprisals were "missing over the last four years under the Biden travesty of an administration."

Van Orden does not seem to be taking the situation seriously. He also is desperate to shift attention away from the Trump administration to the Joe Biden White House -- a stretch considering that no security lapse of this seriousness ever happened on Biden's watch. In short, Van Orden is trying to ignore the most blatant signs yet of incompetence that is coursing through the current presidency -- including the guy at the top, who essentially claimed ignorance of what had happened. The Daily Beast reported on Trump's reaction under the headline "Stunned Trump Learns of Massive Security Breach: ‘They Had WHAT?’":

President Donald Trump was shocked to learn at a press conference Monday that messages between some of his administration’s top officials and aides were leaked when an editor for The Atlantic was mistakenly included in a private Signal group chat.

The stunned commander-in-chief at one point told reporters gathered in the White House’s Roosevelt Room: “You’re telling me about it for the first time.”

During the press conference, Trump was asked what his reaction was to The Atlantic article published Monday, which revealed that his top officials accidentally shared plans to bomb Yemen with Jeffrey Goldberg, the magazine’s editor-in-chief.

The president seemed blissfully unaware of either the article or the security breach.

“I don’t know anything about it. I’m not a big fan of The Atlantic. To me it’s a magazine that’s going out of business. I think it’s not much of a magazine but I know nothing about it,” Trump said. “You’re saying that they had what?”

Here is more from Axios about reaction in Congress, where some members -- unlike Van Orden -- are trying to do more than play "deflect the blame":

• Asked if resignations may be warranted, Van Orden responded "there's a scenario for anything you can think of," though he also argued this was an "isolated incident."

Yes, but: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) offered more of a defensive response, arguing that the administration "has acknowledged it was a mistake."

• "They'll tighten up and make sure it doesn't happen again. I don't know what else you can say about that," he told reporters.

The bottom line: Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, posted on X: "This administration is playing fast and loose with our nation's most classified info, and it makes all Americans less safe."

• Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), Warner's counterpart on the House Intelligence Committee, said he plans to press the issue at his panel's planned hearing on Wednesday.
• "If a lower ranking official under their command did what is described here," he said, "they would likely lose their clearance and be subject to criminal investigation."