They’re Already Lying About the Signal Leak

I was told there would be no fact-checking

My interpretation of the text chain (Artwork by author)

In the wake of a national security scandal that would have resulted in impeachment inquiries against any Democratic administration, MAGA Republicans have returned to a familiar strategy: gaslight the public and hope the problem goes away.

Over the weekend, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, Jeffrey Goldberg, shared bombshell news that almost read like satire. For no apparent reason, he was invited to join an online group chat between the members of Trump’s cabinet at the beginning of March.

Goldberg, who first believed he was the victim of an elaborate prank, was shocked as he watched top officials share sensitive national security information over the private messaging app Signal. Meanwhile, Trump’s cabinet seemed to be completely unaware of his presence. As the administration debated war plans against the Houthis in Yemen, Goldberg voluntarily removed himself from the conversation after spending a whole week recording the text exchange.

This revelation raises numerous security concerns: Why on Earth was a random journalist allowed to sit in on sensitive military discussions between top government officials, and likewise, why was the Trump administration using a private messaging server in the first place?

To top it all off, it appears that a member of the text chain, Trump diplomat Steve Witkoff, was in Moscow, Russia, as he contributed to the discussion.

Russia has been trying to compromise Signal for years, and the Kremlin likely had full access to the conversation.

The hypocrisy is unmistakable: For years, Trump and his deplorables attacked former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her unauthorized use of a private email server. “Lock her up,” they always used to chant at rallies. Nevertheless, after years of testimony and frivolous investigations, Republicans were unable to find any evidence of harm or wrongdoing.

Now, it appears that Trump’s entire cabinet had used a compromised private messaging server to debate war plans against a foreign country, with a “fake news” magazine editor quietly sitting in the room with them. This was entirely indefensible, and under normal circumstances, Trump’s entire cabinet should either be impeached or resign.

In Secretary Hegseth’s own words, dating back to when he criticized Hillary’s emails, “This is a real-deal full-blown national security scandal. If this were anyone other than [Pete Hegseth], they would be in jail.”

Don’t get me wrong, Hillary should never have used a private email server, but that whole deal all seems so small now in comparison.