The Trump administration is scrambling to contain the fallout from a bombshell Atlantic article revealing its editor-in-chief had been mistakenly included in a Signal group chat involving national security adviser Mike Waltz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, intelligence leadership and other Trump administration officials discussing plans for an attack in Yemen.
Some Senate Intelligence Committee members grilled Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, along with CIA Director John Ratcliffe, both of whom were in the chat, about whether details shared over Signal were classified.
At one point, being questioned by Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), Gabbard said she’d defer to Hegseth and the National Security Council on that answer. “You’re the head of the intelligence community. You’re supposed to know about classifications,” King replied.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt argued in a post on the social platform X that no “war plans” were discussed in the chat, echoing comments Monday night from Hegseth. She also asserted no classified material was sent in the thread.
President Trump has expressed confidence in his team, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said no discipline was needed for those involved.
Meanwhile, Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) are set to meet to discuss how to get the two chambers on the same page on passing Trump’s stalled legislative agenda. House and Senate Republicans have each passed their own versions of a budget blueprint, and disagreements over key issues remain.
And Democrats in both chambers will meet for the first time since passage of a government funding bill earlier this month sharply divided the party. They are looking to get back in sync and project an air of unity.
Follow along for more on these and other stories.
Meeting with House panel, OPM officials cut short after clash between top lawmakers
A closed-door meeting between members of a House subcommittee and officials from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) was cut short on Tuesday after the top two lawmakers on the panel clashed over the terms of the gathering.
The disagreement was confirmed to The Hill by the two lawmakers involved, Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), as well as two other sources familiar with the matter.
The huddle, according to an invitation obtained by The Hill, was organized as a roundtable discussion where OPM officials could brief members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) on “updates and recent activity” by the agency.
The meeting, however, never fully got underway after Joyce, the chair of the subcommittee, and Hoyer, the top Democrat on the panel, got into a disagreement over the conditions of the gathering. The invitation said the meeting was an “off-the record briefing,” but Hoyer said he told Joyce at the beginning of the event that he would not abide by those terms because he believed it was important for his constituents and others to be aware of what OPM has been doing.
At that point, “s— devolved and Joyce gaveled out,” according to one source. Another source described the huddle as “contentious.”
Trump on war plans group chat: ‘It’s just something that can happen’
President Trump on Tuesday acknowledged a mistake occurred when a journalist was swept up in a text message chain with top administration officials on plans for an attack on Houthi rebels, saying issues can happen with modern technology.
The president was asked if anyone could be fired after Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic, wrote Monday that he was invited to a group chat on Signal by national security adviser Mike Waltz, in which top officials discussed details of attacks in Yemen.
“We pretty much looked into it, it’s pretty simple to be honest,” Trump said. “It’s just something that can happen, it can happen. You can even prepare for it, it can happen. Sometimes people are hooked in and you don’t know they’re hooked in. … It’s not a perfect technology, there is no perfect technology.
“We always want to use the best technology. This was the best technology for the moment,” the president added. “Again, it wasn’t classified so they probably viewed it as being something that wasn’t that important.”
When questioned if Waltz made a mistake, the president defended his national security adviser, who was sitting at the table with him in a meeting with U.S. ambassadors.
“No, I don’t think he should apologize. I think he’s doing his best. It’s equipment and technology that’s not perfect and probably he won’t be using it again,” Trump said, and Waltz responded, “yes, sir.”
Oz moves closer to confirmation as Medicare, Medicaid chief
Mehmet Oz is a step closer to being confirmed as the next head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, after the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday advanced his nomination.
The vote was 14-13 along party lines.
Democrats slammed Oz for not committing to stop potential GOP cuts to Medicaid, as well as his previous support for Medicare Advantage plans and privatizing Medicare.
“Dr. Oz’s plans to privatize Medicare would deliver worse care to 66 million Americans and waste billions of taxpayer dollars – all while giving giant insurance companies a fat paycheck. Donald Trump and Elon Musk are already gutting Social Security. The Trump administration does not care about America’s seniors,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in a statement following the vote.
But Republicans backed the nominee as someone able to make what they see as necessary reforms.
DHS suspends green card processing for refugees, asylees
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it is pausing review of green card applications for some refugees and asylees, leaving in limbo those who came to the U.S. after fleeing unrest.
The directive from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) would impact refugees already approved to come to the United States, as well as those who were granted asylum after petitioning for the protection in immigration court.
While both groups are thoroughly vetted, DHS said it would press pause on those seeking to become lawful permanent residents for “additional screening.”
Waltz attacks Atlantic journalist over war plan chat, says they ‘never met’
White House national security adviser Mike Waltz on Tuesday sought to distance himself from Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who was mistakenly included in a group chat with Waltz and other officials about plans for a military strike.
Waltz, who has come under scrutiny for Goldberg’s inclusion in the group, said during a meeting with President Trump and ambassadors at the White House that he “never met” Goldberg.
5 top CDC officials resign: Report
Five top-level officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced their departures — described as retirements — during a Tuesday meeting at the agency, according to a report.
The news comes a day after President Trump named acting director Susan Monarez as his nominee to lead the agency.
The Associated Press first reported on the surprise departures, citing two officials the news wire didn’t name. The report noted that it’s not clear whether Monarez’s nomination had any impact on the leaders’ decision to step down.
The CDC didn’t immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
Key takeaways from worldwide threats hearing dominated by Signal breach
National security leaders’ use of Signal to discuss plans for airstrikes in Yemen made for a contentious hearing Tuesday, as Senate Intelligence Democrats excoriated Trump administration officials for their carelessness, and chat participants denied discussing classified information.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe both denied sharing any classified material through the chat, to which Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertently added.
It was an unusual twist for the Senate Intelligence Committee’s annual worldwide threats hearing, which is designed to review the wide range of threats facing the United States.
While Republicans stuck to traditional topics, Democrats grilled the leaders over the group chat and questioned how any war plans wouldn’t be considered classified material.
Senate Armed Services chair confirms plans to investigate war plan group chat
Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) confirmed Tuesday that the committee plans to investigate The Atlantic’s reports of a Signal group chat where a journalist was apparently inadvertently added to a discussion regarding war plans with top Trump administration officials.
“We’re going to look into this and see what the facts are, but it’s definitely a concern. And you can be sure the committee, House and Senate, will be looking into this,” Wicker told CNN during a Tuesday morning interview.
“And it appears that mistakes were made, no question,” he added.
Republicans target two judges for impeachment
Two GOP lawmakers filed articles of impeachment on Monday against two judges who issued rulings that effectively blocked President Trump from advancing parts of his agenda.
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) said he introduced articles of impeachment against Rhode Island-based U.S. District Chief Judge John McConnell, who earlier this month issued an injunction blocking the Trump administration’s sweeping federal spending freeze. The request for an injunction came from Democratic attorneys general.
Russia says US to ease sanctions as part of targeted ceasefire deal with Ukraine
Russia said Monday that it expects the U.S. to ease certain sanctions as part of an agreement for a limited ceasefire with Ukraine, lifting restrictions on certain banking sectors which are a major piece of international penalties on Moscow over its full-scale invasion launched in Feb. 2022.
The sanctions lifting is part of an agreement for Russia and Ukraine to halt military attacks in the Black Sea, the office of Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a statement on Tuesday. The statement came following a round of U.S.-brokered shuttle diplomacy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from Sunday to Tuesday.
Wall Street Journal: Trump now knows which deputies tried to block his policy
As the Trump administration faces fallout over top-level officials’ use of the Signal app to discuss sensitive military plans and the accidental inclusion of a journalist on their group text chain, The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board has highlighted deeper insight into discussion involved in President Trump’s inner circle.
“The news is that the characters played to their public type,” the editorial board wrote in a piece published Tuesday. “National-security adviser Mike Waltz was a voice for U.S. leadership — and for carrying out the President’s policy. Vice President JD Vance was a voice for U.S. retreat even when Mr. Trump directed otherwise.”
Atlantic editor suggests he’s open to sharing Hegseth’s full war plans texts publicly
Jeffrey Goldberg, the top editor of The Atlantic, said he could be open to sharing more details from a Signal group chat he was mistakenly added to by top U.S. officials that contained secret war plans.
“I get the defensive reaction,” Goldberg said Tuesday during an interview with The Bulwark. “But my obligation, I feel, is to the idea that we take national security information seriously.”
Goldberg published a bombshell report Monday outlining how he was added to a group chat on the encrypted messaging app that included top U.S. intelligence and military officials earlier this month relating to the U.S. government’s plans to strike Houthi targets in Yemen.
Goldberg reported he saw in a message, sent to the group by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, specific weapons systems, human targets and other top secret information before he left the chat. He did not publish the specific information as part of his report, citing national security concerns.
The White House has denied war plans were texted to the group, and Hegseth on Monday denied the reporting as well, calling Goldberg “a deceitful and highly discredited, so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again.”
“Maybe in the coming days, I’ll be able to say, ‘OK, I have a plan to have this material vetted publicly,’” Goldberg told The Bulwark on Tuesday. “But I’m not going to say that now.”
Johnson stresses Congress’s power over courts: ‘Desperate times call for desperate measures’
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Tuesday drew attention to Congress’s power over the federal judiciary as Republicans plot how to legislatively channel their outrage over district judges who have blocked Trump administration actions.
“We do have authority over the federal courts,” Johnson said in a press conference Tuesday. “We can eliminate an entire district court. We do have power over funding over the courts and all these other things. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and Congress is going to act.”
Johnson clarified that he was not calling to eliminate courts, but rather meant to illustrate Congress’s broad scope of authority, Punchbowl News reported.
Top House Democrat calls for Hegseth to resign: ‘Endangered lives of American troops’
The fourth-ranking House Democrat called Tuesday for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to resign for sending sensitive military action plans over an unauthorized group chat that included a prominent D.C. journalist.
Rep. Ted Lieu (Calif.), the vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and an Air Force veteran, said Hegseth’s messages — which detailed the Pentagon’s plans to strike Houthi rebels in Yemen earlier this month — were “reckless” and put the lives of U.S. troops at risk.
“Had that information gotten to the Houthis, American pilots could have been shot down [and] Navy sailors could have been targeted,” Lieu said during a press briefing in the Capitol. “His reckless actions endangered lives of American troops, endangered our national security, and makes it so that our allies don’t want to share sensitive classified information with us any more.”
Ratcliffe says Signal group chat was not a huge mistake
CIA Director John Ratcliffe said “no” the signal chat discussing U.S. actions in Yemen was not a huge mistake.
The comment came in response to a question from Sen. John Ossoff (D-Ga.), who was clearly surprised by the answer.
“Hold on. A national political reporter was made privy to sensitive information about the military operations against a foreign terrorist organization and that wasn’t a huge mistake?” he asked.
“There was an inadvertent mistake of adding a reporter,” Ratcliffe said, before being drowned out by Ossoff.
“This is utterly unprofessional. There’s been no apology, there has been no recognition of the gravity of this error. And by the way, we will get the full transcript of this chain and your testimony will be measured carefully against its content,” Ossoff responded.
Ahead of Usha Vance visit, Danish PM calls US pressure on Greenland ‘unacceptable’
Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, called the U.S.’s recent pressure on Greenland “unacceptable” Tuesday prior to a visit from second lady Usha Vance later this week.
“I have to say that it is unacceptable pressure being placed on Greenland and Denmark in this situation. And it is pressure that we will resist,” said the prime minister, Reuters reported, to broadcasters from her country.
Vance’s office announced Monday that the second lady is going to Greenland on Thursday alongside her son and a U.S delegation. During her time in Greenland, Vance is going to “visit historical sites, learn about Greenlandic heritage, and attend the Avannaata Qimussersu, Greenland’s national dogsled race.”
Trump pick to head Social Security Administration denies plans to privatize
Wall Street veteran Frank Bisignano, whom President Trump has picked to head the Social Security Administration, told senators Tuesday that there are not any secret plans to privatize government-managed retirement benefits, despite the claims of Democrats who allege the Trump administration is plotting to privatize the agency.
“I think, ‘I’m not going to attack Social Security’ is a lie. So that’s step one, lie about it. Step two is discredit Social Security. Trump and [Elon] Musk have been lying loudly about imaginary Social Security fraud, which seems to me to be an effort to lower public confidence in the program,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said during a confirmation hearing.
“I think the motive is to discredit the system. Then you send in your Musk characters and you start them messing around in the operations of Social Security to damage it,” he said.
He noted that The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Social Security Administration has experienced several website crashes this month, preventing retirees an disabled Americans from accessing their online accounts.
Whitehouse argued that Trump and Musk want to create chaos at the agency to serve as a pretext for private-sector actors to take it over.
“Will you participate in or defend against that scheme?” Whitehouse asked.
Bisignano responded: “My job as a commissioner is to ensure that every beneficiary receives their payments on time, that disability claims are processed in the manner they should be.”
Asked about the possibility of privatizing Social Security, bringing in private equity and tech people and giving Musk and his team a role at Social Security, Bisignano said: “I’ve never thought about privatizing. It’s not a word that anybody’s ever talked to me about.”
“I don’t see this institution as anything other than a government agency that gets run for the benefit of the American public,” he added.
House Republicans stop short of endorsing consequences for Waltz, Hegseth over war plans chat
House Republicans stopped short of endorsing disciplinary action for national security adviser Mike Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after news broke that the pair, along with other top administration officials, discussed plans for the U.S. to attack the Houthis in Yemen on a text chain that a journalist was mistakenly included on.
The back-up came as Democrats — and a handful of Republicans — sounded off on the report by The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg. Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the duo should resign.
But even after raising concerns about the administration’s conduct, Republicans would not publicly recommend consequences for Waltz or Hegseth — especially after President Trump told NBC News “Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man.”
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) — who on Tuesday said classified information should not be sent on unsecured channels or to individuals without security clearances — responded “no” when asked if Waltz or Hegseth should be punished for their actions.
“I think they obviously need to make sure safeguards are put in place to make sure that doesn’t happen again,” Lawler added. “I think, obviously, the mission itself was very successful and the work they did on the whole [was] very good, but that type of situation, you just need to make sure it does not happen again.”
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) — who was adamant in his criticism on Monday, calling the group chat “embarrassing” and “wrong — would not back consequences for the pair, but said Hegseth needs to explain what happened.
Gabbard says she’ll defer to Hegseth on whether Signal chat contained classified information
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard shifted away from earlier testimony that the information on the Signal chat was not classified, saying she would need to defer to others.
“I defer to the secretary of Defense, the National Security Council on that question,” Gabbard told Sen. Angus King (I-Maine).
King criticized Gabbard.
“You’re the head of the intelligence community. You’re supposed to know about classifications,” he said.
Top Democrats call for immediate reinstatement of terminated EEOC commissioners
Top Democrats are demanding President Trump immediately reinstate two commissioners who were fired from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) just days after he took office.
In a letter to Trump, Democratic Reps. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (Va.), ranking member on the House Committee on Education and Workforce, Jamie Raskin (Md.), ranking member on the House Committee on the Judiciary, and Gerald E. Connolly (Va.), ranking member on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, argue the firing of Charlotte Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels from the EEOC was not only unprecedented, but unlawful.
Democrats call for hearing with Musk on DOGE operations, funding
A group of Democrats are calling for the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee to hold a hearing “as soon as possible” with tech billionaire Elon Musk about his operations with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its role in the administration’s funding.
The letter, signed by Democratic Reps. Steny Hoyer (Md.), Mark Pocan (Wis.), Sanford Bishop Jr. (Ga.), Glenn Ivey (Md.) and Maria Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.), was addressed to Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), the chair of the subcommittee.
The Democrats are calling on Musk, DOGE official Amy Gleason and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought to testify about DOGE’s “activities and use of Congressionally authorized funds.”
Wyden grills nominee over DOGE access to Social Security systems
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, grilled Wall Street veteran Frank Bisignano, whom President Trump has picked to lead the Social Security Administration, about what role he’s played in giving members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) access to the department.
Wyden, citing a tip from a “whistleblower,” asked Bisignano if he was actively involved in onboarding DOGE team members and whether he would be sure to “lock” them out from accessing Social Security beneficiaries’ personal information.
“The whistleblower statement says that the nominee insisted on personally approving several key DOGE hires at the agency,” Wyden said.
“According to the whistleblower, you personally intervened to get key DOGE officials installed at the agency who have masterminded this shipwreck we’re dealing [with] today. Did you talk to anyone at Social Security about these changes?” Wyden demanded.
Bisignano responded that he never spoke to acting Social Security commissioner Leland Dudek but did speak to chief information officer Michael Russo.
But he denied Wyden’s claim that he hired one DOGE official in the “middle of the night.”
“I was not involved in onboarding anybody in the middle of the night,” he said, prompting a skeptical reaction from Wyden.
“Well, we’ve heard some very disturbing comments with respect to some of the officials and I think we’ve got to get to the bottom of it,” the senator said.
Wyden said DOGE officials have been “feasting on the personal information of the American people” stored in government databases.
“If you’re confirmed, will you lock DOGE out of Social Security databases and stop them from exposing millions of Americans who could be damaged?” he asked.
Bisignano said he spent his career at major financial institutions protecting Americans’ personal information.
“I think it’s of the utmost importance for [personal information] to be protected and yes I will ensure it’s protected,” he said.
Gabbard, Ratcliffe contend Signal chat did not include classified information
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) clashed with Trump administration intelligence officials as they asserted that a discussion in a Signal chat about U.S. war plans for Yemen did not include classified information.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard initially declined to say whether she was a party in the Signal group chat exposed by Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg after he was apparently inadvertently included in the group chat. Goldberg reported that someone in the chat had the initials “TG.”
Gabbard repeatedly said she was “not going to get into” the matter, telling Warner it was “currently under review.” CIA Director John Ratcliffe, however, confirmed he was on the group chat.
The two sparred with Warner, rebuffing his demands to turn over the Signal messages amid questions about whether the chats included classified information. The Trump administration has repeatedly warned it plans to crack down on leaks of classified information.
“Senator, I’ll reiterate that there was no classified material that was shared,” Gabbard said.
That would conflict with the account from Goldberg, who described detailed maps, information about what targets the U.S. military would strike, and the name of an intelligence officer.
“If there was no classified material, share it with the committee. You can’t have it both ways,” Warner told Gabbard.
“These are important jobs. This is our national security bobbing and weaving and trying to filibuster.”
Warner then pointed out that Gabbard recently posted on social media that “unauthorized release of classified information is a violation of the law and will be treated as such.”
Gabbard responded that “there’s a difference between inadvertent release versus careless and sloppy, malicious leaks of classified information. The second point is, there was no classified information that was” shared.
Ratcliffe told lawmakers that his use of Signal to discuss the plans was authorized.
“When I was confirmed as CIA director, Signal was loaded onto my computer at the CIA as it is for most CIA officers. One of the things that I was briefed on very early, senator, was by the CIA records management folks about the use of Signal as a permissible work use,” Ratcliffe said.
Trump nominee vows administration will protect Social Security
Frank Bisignano, the president of the payment processing company Fiserv whom President Trump has tapped to lead the Social Security Administration, says the Trump administration will strive to protect Social Security, pushing back on critics who have highlighted efforts to cut the agency’s workforce and close its field offices.
Bisignano told members of the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday that Trump has made “protecting and preserving Social Security an important part of his vision.”
“Social Security touches the lives of nearly every American, whether you’re paying into it or seeking benefits,” he said, vowing to provide beneficiaries with prompt and error-free service despite planned cuts at the agency.
“We will meet beneficiaries where they want to be met, whether in-person, in field offices, on the web or on the phone. I’m on the phone, I’m committed to reducing wait times and providing beneficiaries with a better experience,” he said.
“I also believe we can significantly improve the length of the disability claim process. Importantly, I think a 1 percent error rate on the inspector general report is five decimal places too high. We will get the error rate down and be more accurate in payments,” he pledged.
Warner slams Trump officials over Signal group chat
Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, sharply criticized the Trump administration Tuesday for using a Signal chat to discuss plans for carrying out a bombing in Yemen, calling on top officials involved in the chat to resign.
Warner said “putting aside for a moment that classified information should never be discussed over an unclassified system,” national security adviser Mike Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not “conduct hygiene 101” in failing to realize there was a journalist on the group chat.
“There’s plenty of declassified information that shows that our adversaries, China and Russia, are trying to break into encrypted systems,” Warner said of the chat service during his opening remarks during the panel’s annual worldwide threats hearing.
“If this was the case of a military officer or an intelligence officer and they had this kind of behavior, they would be fired,” he added.
“This is one more example of the kind of sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior, particularly towards classified information, that this is not a one-off or a first time error.”
In a post on X as he began his opening remarks, Warner called on the two Trump officials to resign.
“When the stakes are this high, incompetence is not an option. Pete Hegseth should resign. Mike Waltz should resign,” he wrote.
Risch says Signal scandal is ‘going to be investigated’
Sen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho), the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Tuesday that there’s going to be an investigation into top Trump administration officials carrying out sensitive intelligence conversations over a commercial messaging app Signal.
Risch said he spoke to Secretary of State Marco Rubio “at length” following the bombshell report from The Atlantic that its editor in chief was, apparently inadvertently, added to a group chat discussing war attack plans against the Houthis in Yemen.
Hawley knocks ‘leftist media’ for ‘griping about who’s on a text message’
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) slammed the “leftist media” for its “griping about who’s on a text message” after it was revealed The Atlantic’s editor in chief was added to a war plan group chat with top Trump administration officials.
Hawley joined Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Monday after the news broke about Jeffrey Goldberg being added to a group chat in which a reported plan to attack the Houthis was discussed.
“We don’t know much of this is accurate or not, but it looks like even if everything The Atlantic reported is true, it’s the president’s advisers discussing among themselves options they might recommend to the president,” Hawley said.
He later added, “this is what the leftist media is reduced to.”
“They can’t argue with the policies, which the American people support, they can’t argue with this new demonstration of American strength that is keeping Americans safe at home and abroad, so now we’re griping about who’s on a text message and who’s not,” Hawley said. “I mean, come on.”
Bacon: WH claim no war plans discussed in group chat is ‘baloney’
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who specialized in intelligence during his time as a brigadier general in the Air Force, said the White House’s claim that no war plans were discussed in the Signal group chat is “baloney.”
“They ought to just be honest and own up to it,” he added.
Trump administration invokes state secrets privilege in deportation flights case
The Trump administration invoked the state secrets privilege late Monday in its court battle over its use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants, again refusing to provide more details about the flights to a judge.
The invocation deems details about the flights a state secret — seeking to limit information to U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who has vowed to “get to the bottom” of whether the Trump administration violated his order to turn around or halt the flights.
“The Court has all of the facts it needs to address the compliance issues before it. Further intrusions on the Executive Branch would present dangerous and wholly unwarranted separation-of-powers harms with respect to diplomatic and national security concerns that the Court lacks competence to address,” the Department of Justice wrote in its filing.
It adds that invoking the privilege will stop Boasberg from “colliding with the executive.”
Boasberg has called for a review of flight information in his chambers — something the Trump administration wrote Boasberg should drop in the wake of its invocation, citing “the utter lack of ‘need’ for the information the Court seeks.”
Former Pentagon official on war plans group chat: ‘There’s going to be a fallout’
Former Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said late Monday that she believes there is going to be “a fallout” from revelations that top Trump administration officials created a group chat on Signal to discuss an upcoming strike on Yemen and mistakenly invited a journalist.
Singh, who served under the Biden administration, joined NewsNation’s “The Hill,” where host Blake Burman asked what she expected to happen moving forward after The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was added to the chat.
“I mean, look, this is not a good news story for anyone, so of course, they’re punting it to the White House,” Singh said.
Shortly after the news broke, stunning Washington, President Trump said he knew nothing about the group chat and slammed The Atlantic, calling it a failing magazine.
“Regardless of the statements that Donald Trump makes, there’s going to be a fallout,” Singh said. “And I think … Democrats in Congress really need to look at this closely. I mean, this certainly opens up the aperture for an investigation.”