Sununu: Trump defense team was ‘terrible’ in handling group chat mess

by Ashleigh Fields - 03/26/25 6:46 PM ET

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<Karoline Leavitt / White House Press Secretary We are not going to bend in the face of this insincere outrage> ON WEDNESDAY...GOLDBERG RELEASED MESSAGES SHOWING THE TIMING...TARGETS AND WEAPONS USED... [TAKE :NATS OUTCUE:AIRSTRIKES DURATION:0:02] FOR MILITARY STRIKES AGAINST THE HOUTHI'S -- A TERRORIST GROUP IN YEMEN. ONE MESSAGE FROM SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PETE HEGSETH SAYS..."THIS IS WHEN THE BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP" BUT HE SAYS...THOSE MESSAGES DID NOT INCLUDE WAR PLANS... [TAKE SOT NAME:Pete Hegseth DURATION:0:08] <Secretary Pete Hegseth / Department of Defense My job is to provide updates in real time. General updates in real time to keep everyone informed. That's what I did.> FOR A SECOND DAY IN A ROW...TWO TOP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS...WHO WERE ON THE CHAT... FACED QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF CONGRESS -- THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION INSISTS...OFFICIALS WEREN'T SHARING ANY CLASSIFIED INFORMATION [TAKE SOT NAME:John Ratcliffe DURATION:0:05] <Director John Ratcliffe / CIA what is most important is that the mission was a remarkable success> BUT DEMOCRATS SAY...THEY'RE NOT CONVINCED. [TAKE SOT NAME:Eugene Vindman DURATION:0:03] <Rep. Eugene Vindman / (D) Virginia imminent strike approval and launch times are highly classified> [TAKE SOT NAME:Jason Crow DURATION:0:05] <Rep. Jason Crow / (D) Colorado no acceptance of responsibility, excuse after excuse after excuse > {VINAY TAG} < THE TOP REPUBLICAN...AND DEMOCRAT ON THE SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE HAVE CALLED FOR AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE ADMINISTRATION'S USE OF THE "SIGNAL" APP. THEY'VE ALSO ASKED FOR A CLASSIFIED BRIEFING INTO THIS EPISODE. {SUGGESTED QUESTION} VINAY -- DEMOCRATS HAVE CALLED FOR OFFICIALS TO LOSE THEIR JOB OVER THIS MESSAGE CHAIN. WHAT DOES THE WHITE HOUSE SAY? {VINAY ANSWER} WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY SAYS...THE PRESIDENT CONTINUES TO HAVE CONFIDENCE IN HIS NATIONAL SECURITY TEAM. SHE WOULD NOT ANSWER A YES-OR-NO QUESTION ABOUT WHETHER ANYBODY WOULD LOSE THEIR JOBS OVER THIS." station="" title="" feed="" no_pr="false" disable_muted_autoplay="false" expect_preroll="true" json_feed="" class="" /]

Former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) on Wednesday criticized the Trump administration defense team’s handling of the Signal group chat with high-level national security officials and journalist Jeffrey Goldberg.

“This was not President Trump’s fault. I think the way this defense team has handled it had been terrible in terms of the messaging,” Sununu said during an evening appearance on NewsNation’s “NewsNation Now.”

“They’re making what should have been a tough story, a weeklong gasoline fire. They keep making it work in many different ways.”

Members of the chat included Vice President Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, national security adviser Mike Waltz and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Waltz said he created the messaging thread where leaders shared the timeline for the United States’s strikes on the Houthis in Yemen and mistakenly added Goldberg to the chain.

“I didn’t see this loser in the group. It looked like someone else,” Waltz told Fox News host Laura Ingraham.

“Now, whether he did it deliberately or it happened in some other technical mean, is something we’re trying to figure out,” he added.

However, Sununu said Trump’s Cabinet members should do a better job of acknowledging the error.

“I sympathize with Karoline Leavitt. I think she’s trying her best to kind of manage a message on the top from a team that really screwed up, and the best thing we can do in these situations is, you own it,” the former New Hampshire governor told Hena Doba.

“You say, ‘Wow, we messed up here, here, and here, it was a big mistake.’ Luckily, there were very little ramifications. That’s actually a good thing and an opportunity to kind of show your process of dealing with things, if you show the public that you’re going to kind of own all the little pieces of it, but you don’t come out and try to dodge over here and talk about things over there,” he added.

The White House issued multiple statements in support of Waltz after public scrutiny, while both the president and Hegseth maintained the March 15 Houthi strikes were successful.

The president said that Goldberg’s presence in the Signal chat had “no impact at all” on the operation in Yemen, which he described as “perfectly successful.”

The Defense secretary told reporters Wednesday the attacks were “devastatingly effective.”

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