Castro: Trump, team ‘trying to convince us that the sky is green’ on Signal leak

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said President Trump and his administration are trying to convince the public “that the sky is green” in the aftermath of the Signal group chat scandal.

Castro joined MSNBC’s Symone Sanders on Wednesday after Democrats on the Intelligence Committee pressed administration officials over the release of Houthi attack plans.

“They’re trying to convince us that the sky is green,” Castro said. “This is a common playground from Donald Trump and the people underneath him, which is to deny everything, never admit that they’re wrong, never apologize.”

During the Wednesday hearing, Castro notably called out Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe for lying after it was revealed by The Atlantic that they were part of a group that sent sensitive information via Signal.

Gabbard and Ratcliffe previously testified that no classified information was exchanged, but The Atlantic later published screenshots that showed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth outlining the weapons, time and location for the attack.

“This was gross incompetence and gross negligence that endangered our military members and endangers our allies as well,” Castro said.

The Texas Democrat noted that he’s sat on the Intelligence Committee for nine years and has often received information less sensitive that has been classified.

“So, for the Director of National Intelligence, the CIA Director and others to sit there and say that this is unclassified is absurd and it’s an insult,” he said. “it’s an insult to the American people.”

Castro said the Republican officials who testified and top Trump allies that have pushed back on the criticism are “trying to convince people that the world is upside down.” He called for an investigation into the incident as it would look into what happened prior to the hearing.

Castro noted that he was surprised that just a handful of Republican lawmakers are stepping up to call out the error, arguing the GOP is “so controlled” by President Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has the power to fund their primaries.

He pointed to Democratic scandals in the past, including former Defense Secretary Llyod Austin’s medical absence and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email use.

“This is the kind of thing that if a Democratic administration did this, they’d be on Fox News every single one of them, 24 hours straight,” Castro said.