So, it will shock no one reading this that the response from the administration to the revelation that high level officials, including the Vice President, National Security Adviser, and Secretary of Defense, were using Signal to share classified military plans about Yemen is to lie and deny.
Here’s the Secretary of Defense with an angry non-denial denial.
Side-note: it always strikes me the degree to which he almost always speaks in military/defense clichés and buzzwords while saying almost nothing.
And here’s the White House Press Secretary lying about the content off the text chain (which has, as the community note above notes, has been confirmed to have contained what was claimed).
I currently cannot insert screenshots, so here’s the full text:
Jeffrey Goldberg is well-known for his sensationalist spin. Here are the facts about his latest story:
1. No “war plans” were discussed.
2. No classified material was sent to the thread.
3. The White House Counsel’s Office has provided guidance on a number of different platforms for President Trump’s top officials to communicate as safely and efficiently as possible.
As the National Security Council stated, the White House is looking into how Goldberg’s number was inadvertently added to the thread.
Thanks to the strong and decisive leadership of President Trump, and everyone in the group, the Houthi strikes were successful and effective. Terrorists were killed and that’s what matters most to President Trump.
The ongoing need to smear Goldberg instead of taking responsibility is a substantial commentary on the character of those in this administration, by the way. Both Hegseth and Leavitt engage in that manner.
I guess since we weren’t legally at “war” with the Houthis, #1 is technically correct in a very narrow sense. #2 seems to almost certainly be an outright lie. #3 may well be true, but either it happened after this event or if it happened before, Signal was not on the list for this kind of activity.
The best part is “the White House is looking into how Goldberg’s number was inadvertently added to the thread,” which confirms that, yes, Goldberg was added accidentally to a list of high level official discussion US defense policy.
The North Korean Propaganda Minister’s praise of the Great Leader as part of the discourse is a nice touch.
That people should lose their jobs over this is obvious. That I am not sure that anyone will is just another indicator of how poorly run the federal executive branch is at the moment.
If anyone goes, it will likely be Waltz, and as I understand it it, he is not considerate a true MAGAista by some of the faithful, making this an opportunity to get rid of him.
