Trump leadership team accidentally invites Atlantic editor to highly classified Signal war-planning channel (1 Viewer)

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    This needs a thread of its own - we can pull the posts out of Misc Trump. This story is (1) absolutely mindblowing and (2) not mindblowing at all because Trump has never really understood the value of high-caliber professionals and has surrounded himself with dramatically unqualified dolts.

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    I accepted the connection request, hoping that this was the actual national security adviser, and that he wanted to chat about Ukraine, or Iran, or some other important matter.

    Two days later—Thursday—at 4:28 p.m., I received a notice that I was to be included in a Signal chat group. It was called the “Houthi PC small group.”

    A message to the group, from “Michael Waltz,” read as follows: “Team – establishing a principles [sic] group for coordination on Houthis, particularly for over the next 72 hours. My deputy Alex Wong is pulling together a tiger team at deputies/agency Chief of Staff level following up from the meeting in the Sit Room this morning for action items and will be sending that out later this evening.”

    The message continued, “Pls provide the best staff POC from your team for us to coordinate with over the next couple days and over the weekend. Thx.”

    The term principals committee generally refers to a group of the senior-most national-security officials, including the secretaries of defense, state, and the treasury, as well as the director of the CIA. It should go without saying—but I’ll say it anyway—that I have never been invited to a White House principals-committee meeting, and that, in my many years of reporting on national-security matters, I had never heard of one being convened over a commercial messaging app.

    One minute later, a person identified only as “MAR”—the secretary of state is Marco Antonio Rubio—wrote, “Mike Needham for State,” apparently designating the current counselor of the State Department as his representative. At that same moment, a Signal user identified as “JD Vance” wrote, “Andy baker for VP.” One minute after that, “TG” (presumably Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, or someone masquerading as her) wrote, “Joe Kent for DNI.” Nine minutes later, “Scott B”—apparently Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, or someone spoofing his identity, wrote, “Dan Katz for Treasury.” At 4:53 p.m., a user called “Pete Hegseth” wrote, “Dan Caldwell for DoD.” And at 6:34 p.m., “Brian” wrote “Brian McCormack for NSC.” One more person responded: “John Ratcliffe” wrote at 5:24 p.m. with the name of a CIA official to be included in the group. I am not publishing that name, because that person is an active intelligence officer.

    The principals had apparently assembled. In all, 18 individuals were listed as members of this group, including various National Security Council officials; Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East and Ukraine negotiator; Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff; and someone identified only as “S M,” which I took to stand for Stephen Miller. I appeared on my own screen only as “JG.”

    That was the end of the Thursday text chain.
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    full story: https://www.theatlantic.com/politic...-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/
     
    Lapaz said:
    At least some of the responses that I heard in the hearing from Waltz were more direct and serious. Gabbard was deflecting and playing word games. Waltz screwed up by adding Goldberg, but everyone on the text screwed-up by using a commercial application that is not approved for classified discussions. The focus shouldn't be on a mistake that was made by adding the wrong person to a discussion. Everyone has made that type of mistake. The focus should be on the atrocious lack of judgement of using a commercial application that any competent adversary can hack. That is not just a mistake. That is clear message that you are incompetent. I've known many people who had their computers wiped for far less material that was on the fringes of being classified. I don't know anyone that would be stupid enough to talk about that level of military action on a commercial application. Even the comparisons to Clinton pale. She wasn't discussing life or death decisions. She was discussing fringe classification issues of relationships with other countries. This administration is monumentally stupid, and that's on top of being monumentally corrupt. It incredibly makes me long for the competence of the old Trump administration.
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    Indeed.

    It's not even just that it's a commercial application, it's that the app is a known target of Russian intelligence assets. This was a reckless and stupid means of communication. Not to mention you can't even bring electronic devices into SCIFs yet you had near real-time mission planning being transmitted over an unsecured app. It's sheer incompetence.

    This was an utter and complete failure of national security.
     
    …….Hours before President Trump attempted to shift the blame to an unidentified “lower level” White House employee, his eldest son targeted Golberg on X.

    “Why doesn't Jeffrey Goldberg disclose to readers in his stories that he is a registered Democrat?,” Don Jr. tweeted on Tuesday afternoon. “His wife also worked for Hillary Clinton and has donated nearly $25k to Democrats.”

    The political scion faced backlash for his attempt to discredit The Atlantic journalist, leaving social media users asking why a registered Democrat was added to the insecure channel in the first place.

    “Isn’t it even *worse* that top Cabinet officials added a registered Democrat to their war plan chat on an unsecured app?,” Brian Tyler Cohen, a progressive YouTube creator and MSNBC contributor, said.

    “Great question, Don,” another X user replied. “Why did Pete Hegseth share classified military intelligence with a registered Democrat in an unsecured Signal chat.”

    “So the Trump administration is talking about classified information on a commercial app on their private phones — and they added a registered democrat to the conversation without noticing it?,” a third added.”……..



    www.independent.co.uk

    Donald Trump Jr’s attempt to smear Jeffrey Goldberg is brutally shot down

    Don Jr.’s efforts to besmirch the journalist on social media were met with backlash
    www.independent.co.uk www.independent.co.uk
     
    DJ1BigTymer said:
    Saying "you don't recall" is still a lie when it is something that you do recall. What you are really saying is that you have no integrity nor do you have any respect for those that are asking you questions and in this case, it's the American people asking the question.
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    10-12 days ago.

    not 2 months ago

    10-12 days ago.
     
    DJ1BigTymer said:
    Saying "you don't recall" is still a lie when it is something that you do recall. What you are really saying is that you have no integrity nor do you have any respect for those that are asking you questions and in this case, it's the American people asking the question.
    Click to expand...

    I don’t remember what it was for but a few years ago Marjorie Taylor Greene was testifying or giving a deposition and kept saying “I don’t recall” with the biggest shirt eating grin on her face, clearly implying that she did indeed recall but “what are you going to do about it?”
     
    superchuck500 said:
    So in light of allegations that Goldberg is lying or mischaracterizing, Atlantic is releasing more details - which they chose not to do in the original story due to the sensitivity.

    www.theatlantic.com

    Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal

    The administration has downplayed the importance of the text messages inadvertently sent to The Atlantic’s editor in chief.
    www.theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com
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    After canceling subscriptions to other outlets, I had already been contemplating subscribing to The Atlantic. At a time when too many people and organizations are capitulating to this administration, they chose duty and integrity. I’m a subscriber, as of today, and would encourage anybody else to consider showing their support, as well. We need courage and accountability in the media now more than ever.
     
    Incumbent said:
    After canceling subscriptions to other outlets, I had already been contemplating subscribing to The Atlantic. At a time when too many people and organizations are capitulating to this administration, they chose duty and integrity. I’m a subscriber, as of today, and would encourage anybody else to consider showing their support, as well. We need courage and accountability in the media now more than ever.
    Click to expand...

    Also, the Atlantic is just hands down one of the most intelligent, thorough media outlets there has ever been in the US. I used to get the print edition years ago and reading Atlantic literally makes you smarter.
     

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