All posts tagged "signalgate"

'Real jeopardy': Dem vets in Congress slam Trump and Hegseth for endangering U.S. troops

WASHINGTON — Democratic veterans on Capitol Hill say there’s a dangerous throughline to Pete Hegseth’s dueling scandals, over the use of an unsecured messaging app and boat bombings in the Caribbean and Pacific: The Pentagon chief is endangering US troops.

A new report from the Pentagon inspector general finds Hegseth — a former Army officer who was a Fox News weekend host before he entered government — put troops in danger this spring when he shared Yemen war plans on the commercial messaging app Signal.

"He shared information he shouldn't have in a way that he shouldn't have, and the consequences are that our military could be compromised and the safety of our men and women in uniform could be compromised,” Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) told Raw Story. “That's what we know.”

“Is that the kind of person that we want to be the Secretary of Defense?" Houlahan — an Air Force veteran and member of both the House Intelligence and Armed Services Committees — said.

"No one should be using Signal in that way. Nobody should be communicating that information at all. It's just not nobody, it's the Secretary of Defense."

Details from the inspector general report on Hegseth’s use of commercial messaging app Signal — including how the then national security adviser, Mike Waltz, came to add Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to a group chat ahead of strikes in Yemen — are damning to many in Congress.

But that issue pales in comparison to allegations Hegseth signed off on unlawful military strikes in the Caribbean.

To veterans in Congress, it’s unconscionable that Secretary of Defense Hegseth and President Donald Trump, the commander-in-chief, are seemingly letting their underlings take the blame for the military strikes.

“It is incredibly offensive. And it sends a message to the troops that this President, this SecDef, is willing to throw you under the bus,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) — an Army veteran who lost her legs in Iraq — told Raw Story.

“One of the first things you learn as an Army officer, which, you know, [Hegseth] supposedly was, is that you can always delegate authority, but you never delegate responsibility. The responsibility rests with him.”

Hegseth doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo.

‘No leader worth their salt’

On Monday, the Defense Secretary took to social media to seemingly shift the blame.

“Lets make one thing crystal clear: Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100 percent support,” Hegseth wrote on X.

“I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made — on this September 2 mission and all others since.”

That was the mission when, the Washington Post first reported, an order was given to carry out a second strike on a boat in the Caribbean, the first having left survivors clinging to wreckage.

The Post said Hegseth ordered the second strike, which most analysts say would constitute a war crime. He denies it.

To Duckworth and many other veterans on Capitol Hill, Hegseth passing the buck is scandalous.

“I've always known that he's not qualified for the job,” Duckworth said. “I worry about the service members being put into jeopardy by this, right? We’re violating international laws of armed conflict, we are putting service members in legal jeopardy.

“My focus right now is what are we doing to our service members? We're putting them in real jeopardy, both legally and also personally. I mean, you know, if we're going to do this in international waters, what's to keep some other country from saying, ‘Hey, we're going to do this to the US’?”

Other senior members of the Armed Services Committees agreed.

"No leader worth their salt pushes responsibility off on a subordinate,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) told Raw Story.

“And if Hegseth gave a ‘kill everybody’ order — and we have to determine whether, in fact, that's true — that's a clear violation of law, whether or not he gave it before the second strike. A kill everybody order just in and of itself is a violation of the laws of war.”

Kaine says Hegseth has a bad habit of passing the buck.

"The opening salvo of ‘It's all a lie’ and ‘It's journalists who are spinning a fake narrative’ to now, ‘Well, yeah, it's true but you know, it was Adm. Bradley's call, not mine’ — I mean, you know, no,” Kaine said.

‘Legal risk’

Kaine and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) are renewing their calls for Congress to pass an AUMF — or

Authorization for Use of Military Force — before the Pentagon carries out more air strikes off the coast of Venezuela.

"We're seeing realized a lot of the fears members had that this unauthorized campaign would result in blowback to the country, to our troops," Schiff told Raw Story.

"One of the concerns I've had all along has been that we risk putting service members in physical danger, but we also risk putting them at legal risk and that's exactly what's happened."

Hegseth’s Democratic critics say it's the same with “Signalgate.”

"Secretary Hegseth has been a liability to the administration from the moment he was confirmed,” Houlahan of Pennsylvania said. “At what point does the President recognize that and ask for his resignation?"

Hegseth woes increase as Pentagon watchdog issues scathing report

The Pentagon's watchdog review found that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth "risked endangering troops" when he used Signal to share war plans, according to reports Wednesday.

The report is still classified and has not been publicly released. The inspector general for the Pentagon did conclude that Hegseth "risked compromising sensitive information," according to an exclusive CNN report.

The inspector general has been investigating Hegseth's use of Signal since April and has concluded he should not have used this to communicate specific war plans and the impact could have been "dire," CNN reported.

Sources indicated that Hegseth noted specific information about the war plans in a Signal exchange: "This is the exact time the bomb will drop."

Hegseth apparently resisted to sit down for an interview with the inspector, only answering questions in writing.

The plans, which were accidentally leaked in March to Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg by the former Fox News host and current Pentagon leader, became embroiled in a controversy known as "Signalgate" involving private messaging and potentially inappropriate communications, according to an exclusive CNN report.

"The Defense Secretary risked compromising sensitive military information which could have endangered military troops and mission objectives when he used Signal in March of this year," sources told CNN.

The Signalgate scandal centered around allegations of inappropriate use of encrypted messaging platforms and potential misuse of communication channels during sensitive political periods. Specific details remain under an ongoing investigation.

"The biggest concern about this was that they were putting their lives in danger by communicating and the idea that the Secretary of Defense wouldn't understand that communicating in this way could actually harm our troops on the ground," said Kristen Holmes, CNN senior White House correspondent.

"I think this is going to again, lead to this whole narrative as to whether or not Hegseth stays as the head of the Secretary of Defense," Holmes said.

The inspector general's office was investigating the incident — President Donald Trump had reportedly fired the previous one — and the agency has conducted the probe, CNN reported.

'Unsettling': Analyst's jaw drops as Hegseth delivers eye-popping line with straight face

MSNBC editor Steve Benen couldn't believe the words that came out of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's mouth Tuesday regarding his handling of classified information.

Hegseth spent part of the morning on Fox News defending his use of the unsecured Signal chat app to disseminate the timing and coordinates of a Houthi airstrike in Yemen.

Benen referenced a clip in which Hegseth said, "There's a reason why our nation's most closely held secrets are contained in certain places with only access from certain people. Nobody takes that more seriously than me."

The Defense secretary added, "If there’s one thing I’ve sort of been offended by — I don’t get offended by much; I’m here to do my job for the president, for the country — is this idea that I don’t take classification or I don’t take clearances seriously. Nobody takes it more seriously than me.”

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In an article for MSNBC.com, Benen said Hegseth's "mishandling" of classified information was a subject Hegseth "probably should’ve avoided."

Benen recapped the "Signalgate" controversy that began in March when the aforementioned chat was inadvertently shared with a journalist for The Atlantic.

Benen then dissected the message, which included the words, "‘We are currently clean on OPSEC,'” short for "operations security."

"Of course, we now know that Team Trump was most certainly not 'clean on OPSEC,' Hegseth’s embarrassing boast notwithstanding," Benen wrote.

Benen also mentioned the second Signalgate scandal involving Hegseth's wife and brother, and cited reporting by The Wall Street Journal "that Hegseth used the Signal messaging app for official Pentagon business more extensively than had been previously disclosed, 'engaging in at least a dozen separate chats.'”

Benen concluded, "It was against this backdrop that Hegseth told a national television audience that 'nobody' takes the protection of classified information 'more seriously' than he does. Among the many unsettling angles to this incident: The defense secretary managed to deliver the line with a straight face."

President Donald Trump has defended Hegseth, painting him as a victim of "fake news."

Read the MSNBC article here.

Hegseth slammed for throwing colleagues 'under the bus' to dodge blame amid scandal

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was accused Tuesday of throwing his former, hand-picked Pentagon colleagues "under the bus" in an attempt to shift blame over "Signalgate 2.0."

The New York Times reported Sunday that Hegseth used an unsecured Signal app to share highly sensitive information about a Houthi airstrike with is wife, brother, and lawyer. This was the second time Hegseth was pegged for using the phone app to transmit attack plans.

Hegseth appeared on Fox & Friends Tuesday morning, where he continued to blame the ousted officials for leaking information about his chats.

"What was shared over Signal then and now — however you characterize — was informal, unclassified coordinations," a very animated Hegseth said in a clip played on CNN. "In this point, those folks who were leaking, who have been pushed out of the building, are now attempting to leak and sabotage the president's agenda and what we're doing."

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CNN's Natasha Bertrand said the interview showed "Hegseth clearly trying to throw these former aides very much under the bus as he seeks to kind of explain away why he was on this Signal chat with this information being shared about very sensitive military operations."

Also on CNN, former Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh commented on the Hegseth interview, saying, "I think the reality is that these former disgruntled aides didn't type the tik-tok of an operation and put it into not one, but two separate Signal threads. It's not the media that typed up details of these operational details and put it into these Signal threads. So, you're seeing Pete Hegseth continue to blame and point fingers."

Singh called it "deeply troubling" that Hegsseth bragged in the interview "that he looks at...war plans all the time."

"You can't have selective memory loss there. You literally took what you're seeing every single day and bragging about on Fox...and you type that very classified information and put it into an unclassified text thread. And, ultimately, there's been no accountability for him at all."

Watch the clip below via CNN.

'Truly egregious': Ex-NATO commander says even Trump official knows he 'failed'

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth knows he "failed" in his duties by using an unsecured Signal phone app to share attack plans with family members, according to former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Admiral James Stavridis.

The New York Times reported Sunday of a "previously unreported existence of a second Signal chat in which Mr. Hegseth shared highly sensitive military information" regarding the March 15 attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

CNN's Boris Sanchez asked Admiral Stavridis, "Is there a legitimate reason that you could see why Secretary Hegseth would not only use his personal device for these communications, but also share these details with his loved ones and his attorney?"

"There is absolutely no reason on the planet earth he should be doing that and he knows it," Stavridis said. "He's a former major in the U.S. Army. He was trained throughout his time as a junior officer to protect and guard the nation's secrets; he's got to know that he has failed to do that."

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Stavridis continued, "And, let's face it, Boris, if 'Signalgate 1.0' was a release to a group of high-ranking officials — which it was, and got leaked inadvertently to a member of the media — so we saw exactly what was on it. Here we are, 'Signalgate 2.0,' where, evidently, if the reporting is correct, very similar level, but now it's going to unclassified individuals who lack the need to know any of this. So, it's gone from outrageous to truly egregious, and it's conduct that, frankly, is indefensible."

Stavridis said the Signal chat "appears to me to be highly classified information," despite the Pentagon's denials that anything sensitive was relayed.

Hegseth blamed the leak on "disgruntled employees," while President Donald Trump defended his Defense secretary as a victim of "fake news" at Sunday's White House Easter egg roll.

"You can't just fire people and expect loyalty from them on the far side of the bridge," Stavridis said. "So, no, I'm not surprised about the blowback from firing people that you have hired. We ought to remember, these are folks that Secretary Hegseth hired — put on his team. He chose them."

Watch the clip below via CNN.

'Unacceptable': First GOP lawmaker demands Hegseth's firing

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), a former Air Force general, became the first Republican lawmaker to suggest that "amateur" Pete Hegseth should be fired from his post as secretary of Defense, according to a new report in Politico.

Hegseth, an ex-Fox News host who underwent a challenging confirmation process, is under fresh fire following a New York Times report Sunday of a second unsecured Signal app chat about attack plans that included his wife and brother.

“I had concerns from the get-go because Pete Hegseth didn’t have a lot of experience,” Bacon said. “I like him on Fox. But does he have the experience to lead one of the largest organizations in the world? That’s a concern.”

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Bacon continued, “If it’s true that he had another [Signal] chat with his family, about the missions against the Houthis, it’s totally unacceptable. I’m not in the White House, and I’m not going to tell the White House how to manage this … but I find it unacceptable, and I wouldn’t tolerate it if I was in charge."

Bacon said the number one hacking target for Russia and China besides the president of the United States would be the secretary of Defense.

“Russia and China are all over his phone, and for him to be putting secret stuff on his phone is not right. He’s acting like he’s above the law — and that shows an amateur person.”

Bacon added, “It looks like there’s a meltdown going on" in Hegseth's department. “There’s a lot — a lot — of smoke come out of the Pentagon, and I got to believe there’s some fire there somewhere.”

At Sunday's White House Easter egg roll, Trump maintained his confidence in Hegseth and implied that his Defense secretary was being targeted by the media.

"Here we go again. Just a waste of time. He is doing a great job," Trump said.

Read the Politico article here.

Loose-lipped Pentagon workers hit Hegseth with crisis equal to Signalgate: analyst

Some Pentagon officials seem willing and able to leak sensitive information about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's shortcomings and failures — and it's creating scandals just as hefty as Signalgate, according to a new article with MSNBC.

Columnist Steve Benen wrote Monday that some defense insiders are ignoring the Trump administration's chief of staff Susie Wiles' directive against leaks to the media.

Even after the revelations last week that detailed war plans about a bomb run on Houthi rebels in Yemen were shared in a Signal chat, "things managed to go from bad to worse for the scandal-plagued former Fox News personality," Benen wrote.

Benen gave the example of a report by The Associated Press on Friday about Hegseth appointing his little brother "to serve as senior adviser to the secretary for the Department of Homeland Security and liaison officer to the Defense Department — a title that has meant, among other things, a trip to Guantanamo Bay and traveling on the Pentagon’s 747 aircraft as the Cabinet secretary makes his first trip to the Indo-Pacific."

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Also last week, The Wall Street Journal published an unflattering report that Hegseth "brought his wife, a former Fox News producer, to two meetings with foreign military counterparts where sensitive information was discussed," the Journal wrote, citing "multiple people who were present or had knowledge of the discussions."

Politico and CNN published their own stories saying that, while President Donald Trump outwardly expressed support for Hegseth, interviews with administration insiders "reflect growing concerns about Hegseth’s leadership at the Pentagon.”

Benen wrote that all of these stories pointed to the fact "that there are some people at the Pentagon who’ve learned some unfortunate things about Hegseth, and they’re suddenly eager to share that information with journalists."

He concluded, "It’s a problem for the Pentagon chief that there’s evidence of his incompetence and failures, but it’s just as notable a problem that there are DOD insiders who are apparently willing to talk to reporters about his incompetence and failures."

Read the MSNBC article here.

'It’s the stupidity': Hillary Clinton lets loose as she's dragged into Signal scandal

Hillary Clinton's name has been bandied about recently as a retort for anyone criticizing the Trump administration's involvement in Signalgate. Yet, as Slate put it, the fact that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared specific plans on an imminent attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen via an unsecured app, "is a much bigger security breach than Hillary Clinton's emails."

Just days before the 2016 presidential election, the FBI revealed that it was reopening an investigation into Clinton's use of a private server to send sensitive government emails. The revelation was believed to be one of the factors that lost her the election to Donald Trump.

This week Clinton responded on X, "You have got to be kidding me," after The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg published his article this week revealing that he had been inadvertently included in the messaging chain that revealed the targets, timing, and weapons being used in the bombing raid hours before it happened.

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"It’s not the hypocrisy that bothers me; it’s the stupidity," Clinton wrote in an opinion piece for Fridays New York Times. "We’re all shocked — shocked! — that President Trump and his team don’t actually care about protecting classified information or federal record retention laws. But we knew that already. What’s much worse is that top Trump administration officials put our troops in jeopardy by sharing military plans on a commercial messaging app and unwittingly invited a journalist into the chat. That’s dangerous. And it’s just dumb."

Clinton called the snafu, "the latest in a string of self-inflicted wounds" by the Trump administration, which is "squandering America’s strength and threatening our national security."

The administration continues to deny the messaging chain contained "classified information," despite experts and officials maintaining that it did, and Trump continues to stand behind national security advisor Mike Waltz and Hegseth, calling the incident "not a big deal."

But, Clinton wrote that by not taking Signalgate seriously, Trump is "gambling with the national security of the United States," adding, "If this continues, a group chat foul will be the least of our concerns, and all the fist and flag emojis in the world won’t save us."

Read The New York Times opinion piece right here.