The Atlantic magazine HAS released excerpts from the Natiuonal Security Signal Chat briefing among the Trump admin top officals….
One WOULD assume at some point SOMEBODY WILL get fired due this story which has been runnning now for 48 Hours grabbing almost ALL of the media oxygen….
(Hegseth has NO friends)
The DNI may have lied to Lawmakers on if the chat had classified info in it….
The principals HAVE been getting chewed on by Lawmakers AND The Media…
The President has been ducking….
And reportedly pissed….
Excerpts of a Signal chat published Monday by The Atlantic provide a rare and revealing look at the private conversations of top Trump administration officials as they weighed plans for U.S. strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
The chat, which was created by national security adviser Michael Waltz, included users identified as Vice President Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and C.I.A. Director John Ratcliffe, as well as senior officials who were not listed with their full names. Among them were “MAR,” the initials of Secretary of State Marco Rubio; “TG,” the initials of director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, “Scott B,” which appeared to be Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; and “SM,” the initials of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
President Trump has downplayed the inadvertent inclusion in the group of Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, claiming that officials did not share classified information. The new revelations Wednesday, however, led to mounting calls by Democrats for Mr. Hegseth to step down, saying he behaved recklessly and could have endangered American troops.
Below is a reproduction of the chat, with annotated analysis from our reporters….
…
Government officials work sometimes in the “high side,” which is a classified system, and the “low side,” which is an unclassified government system. This entire conversation, however, takes place in neither the “high side” nor the “low side,” but in a publicly available messaging app.
—Devlin Barrett
…
1 Since becoming defense secretary, Pete Hegseth has focused on “messaging,” using his experience as a Fox News anchor to launch broadsides at adversaries on social media and to amplify President Trump on pretty much all national security matters. So it makes sense that he would be focused on how to “message” the strikes.
—Helene Cooper
2 It is notable that Mr. Hegseth’s first concern here was “this leaks, and we look indecisive.” The public now sees just how much national security officials initially debated whether to move forward with the plan.
—Erica L. Green
The president was asked Tuesday afternoon whether he agreed with this assessment revealed in the signal chat. “Uh, do you really want me to answer that question?” he replied, adding, “Yeah, I think they’ve been freeloading.”
—Shawn McCreesh
1 The Atlantic originally withheld this message from Mr. Hegseth, but released it Wednesday after the White House said the chat did not contain classified material. The message, as we can see now, included very specific details of the timing of the launches from carriers of the planes that were to strike Houthi targets. Launch times are closely guarded pieces of information to ensure that the targets cannot move into hiding or mount a counterattack at the very moment planes are taking off and are potentially vulnerable.
—Julian E. Barnes
4 Hegseth has twice said in response to questions about the chat that “nobody was texting war plans.” But the disclosure of the precise timing and sequencing of the strikes is something that the Pentagon would only put in secure government channels.
—Helene Cooper
5 The new messages suggest that Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, may have mischaracterized a critical part of the exchange in her appearance before the Senate yesterday. Senator Martin Heinrich, Democrat of New Mexico, asked Gabbard: “Precise operational issues were not part of this conversation?” She responded: “Correct.” Given the launch times that the defense secretary shared in the chat, House Democrats will undoubtedly press her on this today.
—Julian E. Barnes
I am no expert…..
But based on my open source knowledge?
I’d say the Russian’s , Chinese, Europeans and Yes….Iran HAVE VERBATIM transcript’s of the UNSECURED conversation these knuckleheads had….
Again?
They got rid of the experts and are ‘freelancers’ like their boss Trump has said outloud….