CIA Director John Ratcliffe maintained in a heated exchange before a Senate panel that his participation in a Signal group chat, which discussed attacking the Houthis, was above the books and completely legal.

“It is permissible to use to communicate and coordinate for work purposes provided, provided, senator, that any decisions made are also recorded through formal channels,” Ratcliffe testified on Capitol Hill on Tuesday morning. “My communications, to be clear, in a single message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information.”