President Donald Trump has come under fire after it emerged on Monday that senior officials in his administration, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, reportedly discussed a highly-sensitive operation aimed at targeting Houthi positions in Yemen in a Signal group chat that included Jeffrey Goldberg, the Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic, by mistake.
Asked about the staggering security breach at the White House, Trump denied all knowledge of the story and attacked the publication as “going out of business.”
He has since said that backs Waltz amid calls for his resignation, saying he has “learned his lesson” over the fiasco.
Hegseth has meanwhile called Goldberg a “deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist” but he too is facing calls to step down from Democrats, who have branded the scandal “amateur hour” and “a major screw-up.”
Particularly incensed was former U.S. secretary of state and first lady Hillary Clinton, whom Trump repeatedly threatened to jail for allegedly using a private email account while in office, who responded by saying simply: “You have got to be kidding me.”
Top story: Trump administration accused of staggering security breach after journalist included in war planning group chat
Good morning!
The Trump administration has been accused of a stunning breach of security after the editor of The Atlantic was included in a group chat with top officials and cabinet secretaries outlining plans to strike the Houthis in Yemen.
Two days before American warplanes struck targets associated with Iran-backed militants who’d been attacking cargo ships and bottlenecking international trade in key sea lanes, White House National Security adviser Mike Waltz appears to have started a group chat to talk about plans for the airstrikes with key officials.
The former Green Beret turned Florida congressman, who resigned in January to serve as President Donald Trump’s top national security aide, used Signal, a common encrypted messaging app, for a group chat with colleagues on the National Security Council’s “Principals Committee.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe all appeared to be part of the group chat.
Others seemingly included were Trump’s Middle East and Ukraine negotiator, Steve Witkoff, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller.
And somehow, Waltz appears to have added one more person: Jeffrey Goldberg, the veteran journalist who currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic.
In an explosive report, Goldberg reveals how he unwittingly got an inside look at how Trump’s team began outlining their plans to bomb the Houthis in Yemen earlier this month on the encrypted app rather than any manner of official communications channels available to top government officials.
Asked about it at the White House yesterday, President Trump denied all knowledge of the incident after it inspired a torrent of criticism all around him.
Here’s a full report from Gustaf Kilander and Andrew Feinberg.
Trump says he still has confidence in Mike Waltz over Signal blunder
The president has not posted anything on Truth Social so far today but has expressed his support for his National Security Adviser in response to The Atlantic’s story, telling a reporter: “Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man.”
Meanwhile, here’s the latest from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, once more attacking Jeffrey Goldberg’s credibility and seeking to downplay the whole mess.
Colorado state capitol removes portrait blasted by Trump
In better news for the president, a picture he complained about for being insufficiently flattering has been taken down in Denver.
Here’s more from Io Dodds.
Jimmy Kimmel shreds ‘bunch of doofs’ in Trump administration over Signal leak
“Our national security is being guarded by a bunch of doofs you wouldn’t trust to throw your cousin a surprise party,” the late night host said last night.
Here’s James Liddell with more from the comedian.
Trump threatens to tax imports from countries that use Venezuelan oil
In amongst all yesterday’s security breach excitement, the president threatened to unilaterally impose a 25 percent tax (that Americans would have to pay) on any imports from foreign countries that permit their domestic industries to make use of Venezuelan oil or gasoline.
Trump’s latest tariff aggression will start next month alongside a number of other new import taxes he will be imposing as part of a push to reverse decades of global supply chain integration and free trade efforts.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump claimed that “tens of thousands” of Venezuelan refugees who have fled that country’s authoritarian regime in recent years were actually “high level… criminals, many of whom are murderers and people of a very violent nature” who were “purposefully and deceitfully” sent “undercover” to the United States by that same government.
He also claimed that the presence of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan street gang, in the United States, was entirely due to deliberate efforts by the Nicolas Maduro dictatorship, contradicting language he used in a proclamation purporting to give him the power to summarily remove alleged members of that gang without due process under the terms of a 1798 law, the Alien Enemies Act, while also noting that the Maduro government has been “been very hostile to the United States and the Freedoms which we espouse.”
Here’s Andrew Feinberg.
Alina Habba: ‘I’m coming for New Jersey’
Trump yesterday named his one-time defense attorney and current White House counselor Alina Habba to be the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey.
Habba, who turns 41 today (er, happy birthday, I guess), takes over the interim post from John Giordano, whom the president said he is naming to be the new U.S. ambassador for the southwestern African country of Namibia.
A partner in a small New Jersey law firm near Trump’s Bedminster golf course, Habba served as a senior adviser for Trump’s political action committee, defended him in court in several civil lawsuits and acted as a spokesperson last year as he volleyed between courtrooms and the campaign trail.
Habba said she looked forward to working with Attorney General Bondi to pursue the president’s agenda of “putting America first” and going after the people “we should be going after.”
The lawyer was out front yesterday making sure everyone understood this was definitely a promotion.
Here’s more.
USPS head Louis DeJoy resigns as DOGE ‘seeks access’ to mail system
The postmaster general of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) resigned from his position Monday, earlier than expected, after reportedly refusing to give Elon Musk’s DOGE broad access to agency computer systems.
DeJoy, a former logistics magnate and Republican donor appointed by Trump himself in the chaotic summer of 2020, announced last month that he would resign once the USPS’s independent board of governors had chosen a successor.
Instead, he said yesterday that he would leave at the end of the day and be replaced by deputy postmaster Doug Tulino on an interim basis.
The news came after Trump threatened to dissolve the USPS board in apparent contravention of U.S. law, which guarantees its independence and bipartisan governance.
Io Dodds reports.
Zelensky reveals gift choice that sparked blockbuster Trump clash in the Oval Office
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed the gift choice that may have triggered his blockbuster showdown with Donald Trump at the White House last month.
What should have been a friendly meeting between two allies soon descended into a heated argument in front of the world’s media.
Now, one month after the fiery clash damaged relations between the two countries, Zelensky has reflected on what may have set the U.S. president off in an interview with Time magazine.
Barney Davis has the details.
Trump cabinet members tear into ‘pathetic’ European allies for ‘free-loading’ in leaked messages
The Signal scandal threatens to cause problems for the president overseas as well as on the home front, given that Goldberg’s Atlantic article revealed key members of his cabinet ripping into their European allies, branding them “free-loading” and “pathetic” in a series of extraordinary leaked messages.
Rachel Clun reports.
Attorney General demands Democrat apologize for Musk comments and accuses her of fomenting ‘insurrection’
Pam Bondi, rarely off Fox these days, called on Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett to apologize last night for her recent comments calling for Elon Musk to be “taken down,” claiming the comments are driving violence and “insurrection.”
“She needs to unequivocally denounce the violence,” Bondi said during her latest interview with Sean Hannity.
“She must apologize immediately, not only to all Texans, but to our country, to the American shareholders of Tesla, because she is promoting violence.”
Josh Marcus reports.
Source: independent.co.uk