Marco Rubio Asked Point Blank If Leaked Chat Containing Strike Times Was 'Classified'

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At a press briefing with Jamaican Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, on Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked about a leaked group chat that included the precise platforms and times of airstrikes on Houthi targets.   Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com

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00:00Republican Congressman Don Bacon weighed in on the signal chat breach, saying the White

00:03House is, quote, in denial that this was not classified or sensitive data.

00:07They should just own up to it and preserve credibility.

00:09Do you think that's true?

00:11Also, here in Jamaica, there are USAID employees at our embassy, like so many others around

00:16the world, on administrative leave, not carrying out the work of the American people.

00:21Do you worry that the DOJ effort won't ultimately end up benefiting U.S. taxpayers?

00:27And Prime Minister, violence and instability remains in Haiti.

00:31What would you like to see from the United States in terms of being a productive force?

00:35And a State Department envoy yesterday called the presence of Cuban doctors in Jamaica and

00:41elsewhere human trafficking.

00:43Do you agree with that?

00:45Let me take the first.

00:46I mean, I've already addressed the aid one, but let me address it again.

00:49This is not about getting rid of aid.

00:51This is about restructuring how we're going to do aid.

00:53And when you restructure, there is some disruption, but it has to happen.

00:56By the way, this is not an idea – this is an idea Condoleezza Rice wanted.

01:00This is an idea multiple secretaries of state throughout time have tried to achieve.

01:04And we intend to achieve it because we think it makes all the sense in the world.

01:07So I recognize that there's disruption involved when you make reform and you make change,

01:11but it's necessary because our foreign policy and our foreign aid have to be aligned.

01:15Foreign aid is an instrument of foreign policy, okay?

01:18It is not global charity.

01:20Jamaica's not asking for charity.

01:21They're asking for development assistance so they can become stronger at their security

01:26needs and other things of this nature.

01:27That's what they're asking for.

01:28They're not asking for a handout.

01:29They're asking for a hand up, help to build their capabilities so that they become a self-reliant

01:34partner and, frankly, could end up – and already are – helping other countries.

01:38Jamaica now is contributing to the effort in Haiti, as an example.

01:41So these are the kinds of things we want to see in our foreign aid.

01:44So look, our goal was not to disrupt anyone's life.

01:47Our goal was to restructure the way we deliver foreign aid so that it is aligned with our

01:52foreign policy and with what we're trying to carry out at our respective missions around

01:56the world.

01:57On the first question, let me just say on the signal thing, this thing was set up for

02:01purposes of coordinating how everyone was going to call – when these things happen,

02:05I need to call foreign ministers, especially of our close allies.

02:08We need to notify members of Congress.

02:11Other members of the team have different people they need to notify as well.

02:14And that was the purpose of why it was set up.

02:16I can see someone made a mistake.

02:19Someone made a big mistake and added a journalist.

02:22Nothing against journalists, but you ain't supposed to be on that thing.

02:24So they got on there and this happened.

02:26I've been – so I can speak to myself and my presence on it.

02:30I think my role on it was – just speaking for my role, I contributed to it twice.

02:36I identified my point of contact, which is my chief of staff.

02:40And then later on, I think three hours after the White House's official announcements

02:45had been made, I congratulated the members of the team.

02:48I've been assured by the Pentagon and everyone involved that none of the information that

02:52was on there, though not intended to be divulged – obviously, that was a mistake and that

02:56shouldn't have happened and the White House is looking at it – but that none of the

02:58information on there at any point threatened the operation or the lives of our servicemen.

03:04And in fact, it was a very successful operation and it's an ongoing operation.

03:07But that was the intent behind it.

03:09And again, I think the Pentagon's made clear that nothing on there would have endangered

03:15the lives or the mission, and the mission's been very successful.

03:18Has it classified the information?

03:20Well, the Pentagon says it was not, and not only does it say it was not, they make very

03:24clear that it didn't put in danger anyone's life or the mission.

03:27The – there was no intelligence information.

03:29And understand, when this story first broke, they were sort of alluding to were there war

03:33maps, were there – there was no war plans on there.

03:35This was a sort of description of what we could inform our counterparts around the world

03:43when the time came to do so.

03:45Again, look, I think the White House is looking at this entire thing.

03:48How did that journalist get on there?

03:49Why – was this the appropriate – and I think there'll be reforms and changes made,

03:52so this never – this was not going to happen again.

03:54It can't.

03:55But I wanted everybody to understand why this thing was even set up in the first place and

03:59also understand very clearly the mission was successful and at no point was it endangered,

04:03and that's coming from the highest-ranking officials at the agency that was in charge

04:07of the actual operation, which is the Pentagon.

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