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Trump officials testify amid fallout over group chat

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25.03.2025

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It’s a busy Tuesday in Washington. HBO’s “The Last of Us” is returning on April 13! If you’re planning on rewatching the first season, now is a good time to do so.

 

In today's issue:

  • Intel chiefs testify amid group chat fallout
  • Trump stands with Waltz
  • Top Intel Democrat calls for Hegseth, Waltz to resign
  • Journalist elaborates on “war plans” in interviews

 

Text STOP to opt out of sensitive military texts:

All of Washington is aghast over one thing (hey, look! Unity!): President Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz reportedly added The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a group chat with Trump’s most-senior national security team by accident — that included highly sensitive discussions over then-imminent plans to attack in Yemen. 🤯

Read the original report: ‘The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans’ (Gift link)

What we learned from this mishap:

  • This is not a secure way to transmit intel: Some of the most senior members of the U.S. government are apparently using the messaging app “Signal” to discuss military plans. This level of sensitive information is typically discussed in a secure location and lawmakers acknowledge this could be a massive security vulnerability. NPR obtained a Pentagon email warning about Signal’s security vulnerability.


  • It exposed tensions with Europe: At one point, a user who was apparently Vice President Vance, said to the user identified as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: “If you think we should do it let’s go. I just hate bailing Europe out again.”

  • Trump and Vance may not be on the same page: From the Vance account: “I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now. … I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself.”

Of all private citizens who could have been added to the chat: Goldberg is one of the most experienced journalists to handle this story. His first instincts were spot on: He assumed this was a sophisticated disinformation campaign. He did not publish while the situation was ongoing, he withheld sensitive details of the military operations and he voluntarily left the chat.

Goldberg is well known for his decades of foreign affairs coverage but is a top target of ire for Trump and his allies over his past reporting.

 

➤ FALLOUT:

Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called for Waltz and Hegseth to resign. “There’s plenty of declassified information that shows that our adversaries, China and Russia, are trying to break into encrypted systems,” Warner said. “If this was the case of a military officer or an intelligence officer and they had this kind of behavior, they would be fired.”

CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard,

© The Hill