'Who exactly is running the government?' Trumpโs war plans leak denial backfires
President Donald Trumpโs claim that he was unaware of a cabinet-level breach of classified informationโan incident reportedly involving up to 18 top national security officials discussing sensitive details of a planned military strikeโappears to have backfired, raising questions about his knowledge of the actions of his top officials, and, as Commander-in-Chief, his knowledge of U.S. national security and military operations.
The Atlanticโs editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, revealed Monday afternoon that he inadvertently had been included in the 18-person group chat on the unclassified messaging app Signal. Experts say those discussions should never have been held over the app, but rather inside a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or inside multiple SCIFs.
On Monday afternoon at a press conference, a reporter asked the Commander-in-Chief for his reaction to the story in The Atlantic.
โI donโt know anything about it,โ was Trumpโs immediate response. His next response was to attack the media outlet.
โIโm not a big fan of The Atlantic, itโs, to me itโs a magazine thatโs going out of business,โ the President declared. โI think itโs not much of a magazine, but I know nothing about it.โ
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He then asked the reporter to explain to him what had been reported in The Atlantic.
โYouโre saying that they had what?โ โHaving to do with what?โ he asked twice. โWhat were they talking about?โ
After the reporter gave him more information, Trump, seemingly still not understanding all the details, declared that the leak โcouldnโt have been very effective because the attack was very effective, I can tell you that.โ
He again denied any knowledge of the leak.
โI donโt know anything about it,โ Trump repeated. โYou, youโre telling me about it for the first time.โ
The White House has acknowledged the leak occurred. Axios called it a โmind-boggling security breach.โ The Washington Post reported that โthe disclosure raises questions about how the administration has discussed classified issues and whether anyone will be disciplined.โ
โAs the bombing campaign moved ahead, Hegsethโs [Signal] account shared details that Goldberg said he believed could put at risk the safety of U.S. troops or intelligence officials, especially those deployed in the Middle East,โ the Post reported. โThose details, the Atlantic article says, allegedly included the specific weapons to be used and in which sequence the Houthi targets would be hit.โ
Military and national security experts are stunned โ not only that this massive leak occurred, but that the President was not informed until a reporter asked him about it on Monday.
โIf the President is telling the truth and no oneโs briefed him about this yet, thatโs another story in itself. In any other administration, CoS would have been in the Oval within nanoseconds of learning about something like this, wrote The Atlanticโs Tom Nichols via social media, referring to the White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. Nichols is a retired U.S. Naval War College professor who is an expert on national security, international affairs, Russia, and nuclear weapons.
โHeads need to roll for this. They have broken laws and endangered the lives of our service members with this idiocy,โ commented Army veteran of 22 years, Fred Wellman, a graduate of West Point and the Harvard Kennedy School.
Journalist Wajahat Ali wrote, โWhatโs worse is that he HAS no idea, allegedly, about the story, which makes it even worse and more terrifying. Like, bro, why donโt you know?โ
โOne wild thing about Trump,โ observed journalist Isaac Saul, โis that he is notoriously insulated from certain information streams by his team. Absolutely believable that he went out to the podium having not been informed of this massive story bc the people who brief him on info were culpable in the leaks.โ
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โHereโs some insight,โ offered Sophia Kinzinger, a former press secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. โThe White House has an entire department, staffed by military professionals, dedicated to facilitating secure communications. They travel with staff, provide devices, and set up SCIFs (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities) whenever and wherever needed, operating 24/7. There is absolutely no excuse for mishandling classified information, especially for someone leading the National Security Council at the White House. Their actions clearly demonstrate a lack of qualification for such a critical role. we deserve better!โ
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) added: โIf itโs true that the President of the United States had no idea that his war cabinet and VP were discussing war plans on a Signal chat that included a journalist, that is astounding ignorance and profound incompetence.โ
Derek Martin, who conducted supply chain counterintelligence at the National Security Agency (NSA), asked: โIf Trump doesnโt know about a major incident involving his VP, Chief of Staff, NatSec Advisor, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Director of National Intelligence, and CIA Director, then who exactly is running the government?โ
U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), according to Deadline, wrote: โEvery single one of the government officials on this text chain have now committed a crime โ even if accidentally โ that would normally involve a jail sentence. We canโt trust anyone in this dangerous administration to keep Americans safe.โ
In his report at The Atlantic, Goldberg noted that โcoordinating a national-security-related action over Signal, may have violated several provisions of the Espionage Act, which governs the handling of โnational defenseโ information, according to several national-security lawyers interviewed by my colleague Shane Harris for this story.โ
Goldberg also explained that he chose to not publish all of the texts, noting that, โif [some] had been read by an adversary of the United States, [they] could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East, Central Commandโs area of responsibility. What I will say, in order to illustrate the shocking recklessness of this Signal conversation, is that the Hegseth post contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.โ
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