Trump blames ‘employee’ for Signalgate and ‘billionaires on left’ for Tesla assaults in Newsmax interview: Live
President Donald Trump has said Mike Waltz, his national security adviser, has no need to apologize for the alarming security breach in which he inadvertently added Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic, to a Signal group chat about upcoming military action.
The administration has been under fire after it emerged on Monday that senior officials, also including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Vice President JD Vance, reportedly discussed a highly sensitive operation aimed at targeting Houthi positions in Yemen.
Trump told reporters at the White House that he backed Waltz despite calls for his resignation. In their remarks, they both attacked Goldberg and other journalists for wanting to distract from the successes of his administration.
Hegseth also 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 “a major screw-up.”
Two members of the group chat, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee and were extensively grilled on the security breach.
The president is due to sit down for an interview with Newsmax at 9 p.m.
Citing ‘state secrets’, Trump admin refuses to answer judge’s questions over deportation flights
Judge James Boasberg had ordered government attorneys to answer a series of questions — including when those planes left the United States and entered El Salvador — to determine whether administration officials intentionally defied his court orders, which were delivered in court and in filings hours before the planes landed March 15.
For more than a week, the judge has pushed the administration for answers and extended deadlines for a response.
But in a late-night filing Monday, Trump administration officials and government lawyers said “no further information will be provided”.
Alex Woodward explains what is happening.
ICYMI: CNN airs brutal montage of Trump officials from Signal chat condemning Hillary Clinton
CNN aired a montage of Trump administration officials embroiled in the Signal chat saga repeatedly condemning former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server while in office.
James Liddell has the story.
Federal workers describe dire conditions as they return to office
Federal workers who have been summoned back into their offices five days per week are being met with less-than-desirable conditions, from cramped workspaces to dirty bathrooms, as the Trump administration seeks to cut costs by reducing space and staff, according to reports.
Ariana Baio reports.
Watch: Trump shifts blame for Signalgate texts onto mystery ‘lower level’ employee
Full story: Trump shifts blame for Signalgate texts onto mystery ‘lower level’ employee
Donald Trump has shifted the blame for a blunder in which details of U.S. military operations in Yemen were leaked to a journalist on a secret group chat to a “lower level” White House employee that worked for his national security advisor Michael Waltz.
In an interview with Newsmax, which aired on Tuesday evening, Trump offered a theory on how Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, had ended up on a Signal group chat in which the top-secret plans were discussed.
Read the full story here:
Trump says ‘billionaires on the left’ partly to blame for violence against Tesla
Speaking to Newsmax, Donald Trump said that it was possible that part of the responsibility for destruction and vandalizing of Tesla vehicles lay with “billionaires on the left.”
“The Tesla violence. Have you heard anything about billionaires on the left, whether it’s Soros or somebody else. Have you heard anything about planning, coordination, funding for these attacks?” asked Newsmax host Greg Kelly.
Trump replied: “I believe that that is part of it, yeah. There are some of them that were involved with my trials that were, I think, probably involved with that also.”
Trump offers theory on how The Atlantic ended up on Signal group chat
In an interview with Newsmax, which aired on Tuesday, Donald Trump offered a theory on how journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, had ended up on a Signal group chat in which U.S. military plans were discussed.
The president called Goldberg “a loser” and said the his publication, The Atlantic, was “failing.”
“It’s a terrible magazine. They made up all sorts of stories about me with with standing over the grave of soldiers,” he said, referring to a prior piece published by the outlet.
“But Goldberg’s a loser. His magazine’s a big loser. And what it was, we believe, is somebody that was on the line with permission, somebody that was with Mike Waltz, worked for Mike waltz at a lower level, had, I guess, Goldberg’s number or called through the app, and somehow this guy ended up on the call.”
Democrats and Republicans calling for action in the wake of Signal text leak
James Liddell reports.
Is Jeffrey Goldberg legally allowed to release the Signal messages he received?
Editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, released excerpts of the conversation among national security officials on the messaging app Signal after he was accidentally added to the group chat — exercising a right to publish that has sparked controversy among Trump administration officials.
Where does the law stand on this?
Ariana Baio explains.
Source: independent.co.uk
