{"id":131182,"date":"2025-03-24T23:53:47","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T23:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-officials-texted-war-plans-to-a-group-chat-in-a-secure-app-that-included-a-journalist-the-associated-press\/"},"modified":"2025-03-24T23:53:47","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T23:53:47","slug":"trump-officials-texted-war-plans-to-a-group-chat-in-a-secure-app-that-included-a-journalist-the-associated-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-officials-texted-war-plans-to-a-group-chat-in-a-secure-app-that-included-a-journalist-the-associated-press\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump officials texted war plans to a group chat in a secure app that included a journalist – The Associated Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
President Donald Trump said Monday he knows \u201cnothing\u201d about his top national security officials inadvertently texting war plans about upcoming military strikes on Yemen to a group in a secure messaging app that included The Atlantic\u2019s editor-in-chief.
Locals inspect the site reportedly struck by U.S. airstrikes overnight in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth does a television interview outside the White House, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Donald Trump said Monday he knows \u201cnothing\u201d about his top national security officials inadvertently texting war plans about upcoming military strikes on Yemen to a group in a secure messaging app that included The Atlantic\u2019s editor-in-chief.
Locals inspect the site reportedly struck by U.S. airstrikes overnight in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo)
Locals inspect the site reportedly struck by U.S. airstrikes overnight in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth does a television interview outside the White House, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth does a television interview outside the White House, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin)
WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Top national security officials for President Donald Trump, including his defense secretary, texted war plans for upcoming military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in a secure messaging app that included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic, the magazine reported in a story posted online<\/a><\/span> Monday. The National Security Council said the text chain \u201cappears to be authentic.\u201d <\/p>\n

Trump initially told reporters he was not aware that the highly sensitive information had been shared, 2 1\/2 hours after it was reported. He later appeared to joke about the breach.<\/p>\n

The material in the text chain \u201ccontained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Iran-backed Houthi-rebels in Yemen,<\/a><\/span> including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing,\u201d editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear if the specifics of the military operation were classified, but they often are and at the least are kept secure to protect service members and operational security. The U.S. has conducted airstrikes against the Houthis since the militant group began targeting commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea in November 2023.<\/p>\n

Just two hours after Goldberg received the details of the attack on March 15<\/a><\/span>, the U.S. began launching a series of airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.
Locals inspect the site reportedly struck by U.S. airstrikes overnight in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo)
Locals inspect the site reportedly struck by U.S. airstrikes overnight in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n

The National Security Council said in a statement that it was looking into how a journalist\u2019s number was added to the chain in the Signal group chat. In addition to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, it included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Tulsi Gabbard, Trump\u2019s director of national intelligence. <\/p>\n

Goldberg said he received the Signal invitation from Mike Waltz, Trump\u2019s national security adviser, who was also in the group chat.<\/p>\n

Hegseth in his first comments on the matter attacked Goldberg as \u201cdeceitful\u201d and a \u201cdiscredited so-called journalist\u201d while alluding to previous critical reporting of Trump from the publication. He did not shed light on why Signal was being used to discuss the sensitive operation or how Goldberg ended up on the message chain. <\/p>\n

\u201cNobody was texting war plans and that\u2019s all I have to say about that,\u201d Hegseth said in an exchange with reporters after landing in Hawaii on Monday as he makes his way to the Indo-Pacific on his first overseas travel as defense secretary.<\/p>\n

In a statement late Monday, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the president still has the \u201cutmost confidence\u201d in Waltz and the national security team.<\/p>\n

Earlier Monday, Trump told reporters, \u201cI don\u2019t know anything about it. You\u2019re telling me about it for the first time.\u201d He added that The Atlantic was \u201cnot much of a magazine.\u201d <\/p>\n

By early evening, the president jokingly brushed it aside. He amplified a social media posting from Elon Musk spotlighting a conservative satirical news site article with the cutting headline: \u201c4D Chess: Genius Trump Leaks War Plans to \u2018The Atlantic\u2019 Where No One Will Ever See Them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Government officials have used Signal for organizational correspondence, but it is not classified and can be hacked. Privacy and tech experts say the popular end-to-end encrypted messaging and voice call app is more secure than conventional texting. <\/p>\n

The sharing of sensitive information comes as Hegseth\u2019s office has just announced a crackdown on leaks<\/a><\/span> of sensitive information, including the potential use of polygraphs on defense personnel to determine how reporters have received information. <\/p>\n

Sean Parnell, a spokesman for Hegseth, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on why the defense secretary posted war operational plans on an unclassified app.<\/p>\n

The administration\u2019s handling of the highly sensitive information was swiftly condemned by Democratic lawmakers. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called for a full investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence I have read about in a very, very long time,\u201d Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in a floor speech Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf true, this story represents one of the most egregious failures of operational security and common sense I have ever seen,\u201d said Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, in a statement.<\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth does a television interview outside the White House, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth does a television interview outside the White House, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin)<\/p>\n

He said American lives are \u201con the line. The carelessness shown by Trump\u2019s Cabinet is stunning and dangerous. I will be seeking answers from the Administration immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that he was \u201chorrified\u201d by the reports.<\/p>\n

Himes said if a lower-ranking official \u201cdid what is described here, they would likely lose their clearance and be subject to criminal investigation. The American people deserve answers,\u201d which he said he planned to get at Wednesday\u2019s previously scheduled committee hearing.<\/p>\n

Some Republicans also expressed concerns.<\/p>\n

Sen. Roger Wicker, the Mississippi Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters Monday, \u201cWe\u2019re very concerned about it and we\u2019ll be looking into it on a bipartisan basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reed said he would be speaking with Wicker about what the committee will do to \u201cfollow up\u201d on the Signal leak.<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he wants to learn more about what happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we got to to run it to the ground, figure out what went on there,\u201d said Thune, a South Dakota Republican.<\/p>\n

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson offered a notably forgiving posture. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it would be a terrible mistake for there to be adverse consequences on any of the people that were involved in that call,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThey were trying to do a good job, the mission was accomplished with precision.\u201d<\/p>\n

The handling of national defense information is strictly governed by law under the century-old Espionage Act, including provisions that make it a crime to remove such information from its \u201cproper place of custody\u201d even through an act of gross negligence.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department in 2015 and 2016 investigated whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton broke the law by communicating about classified information with her aides on a private email server she set up, though the FBI ultimately recommended against charges and none were brought.<\/p>\n

In the Biden administration, some officials were given permission to download Signal on their White House-issued phones, but were instructed to use the app sparingly, according to a former national security official who served in the Democratic administration.<\/p>\n

The official, who requested anonymity to speak about methods used to share sensitive information, said Signal was most commonly used to communicate what they internally referred to as \u201ctippers\u201d to notify someone when they were away from the office or traveling overseas that they should check their \u201chigh side\u201d inbox for a classified message.<\/p>\n

The app was sometimes also used by officials during the Biden administration to communicate about scheduling of sensitive meetings or classified phone calls when they were outside the office, the official said.<\/p>\n

The use of Signal became more prevalent during the last year of the Biden administration after federal law enforcement officials warned that China and Iran were hacking the White House as well as officials in the first Trump administration, according to the official.<\/p>\n

The official was unaware of top Biden administration officials \u2014 such as Vice President Kamala Harris, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and national security adviser Jake Sullivan \u2014 using Signal to discuss sensitive plans as the Trump administration officials did.<\/p>\n

Some of the toughest criticism targeted Hegseth, a former Fox News Channel weekend host. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran, said on social media that Hegseth, \u201cthe most unqualified Secretary of Defense in history, is demonstrating his incompetence by literally leaking classified war plans in the group chat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vance in the chain of the messages questioned whether Americans would understand the importance of strikes that came with the risk of \u201ca moderate to severe spike in oil prices\u201d and if the timing of the operation might be a \u201cmistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself,\u201d Vance argued. \u201cBut there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vance also made the case that Europe would benefit much more than the U.S. by the action aimed at decimating the Houthis and securing Red Sea shipping lanes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you think we should do it let\u2019s go. I just hate bailing Europe out again,\u201d Vance said in a back-and-forth with Hegseth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It\u2019s PATHETIC,\u201d Hegseth replied. He added, \u201cI think we should go.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vice president\u2019s communication\u2019s director, William Martin, in a statement downplayed the debate. He said Vance \u201cunequivocally supports this administration\u2019s foreign policy.\u201d <\/p>\n

AP writers Stephen Groves, Kevin Freking and Lisa Mascaro contributed reporting.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.President Donald Trump said Monday he knows \u201cnothing\u201d about his top national security officials inadvertently texting war plans about upcoming military strikes on Yemen to a group in a secure messaging app that included The Atlantic\u2019s editor-in-chief.Locals inspect the site reportedly struck by U.S. airstrikes overnight in Sanaa, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131183,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}