Summary

White House insiders blame National Security Adviser Mike Waltz for a group chat error that exposed military strike discussions to journalist Jeffrey Goldberg.

Waltz mistakenly added Goldberg to a Signal chat about potential strikes in Yemen, involving key officials like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and JD Vance.

Trump has defended Waltz but is reportedly weighing his options.

Some aides urge resignation to avoid forcing Trump to make a decision. Critics call Waltz reckless, but House Speaker Mike Johnson opposes his resignation.

  • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    6 hours ago

    I use this app. If I saw a new person added to a casual group chat, I’d ask about it. I’m not an idiot who sucks Trump’s dick, though.

  • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    34
    ·
    16 hours ago

    The crimes each member may have committed exposes them to multi-decade prison sentences.

    They’re urging someone to resign? RESIGN?

    Let’s see the court cases. Each one of those hypocrites.

    • FiskFisk33@startrek.website
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      edit-2
      6 hours ago

      two words: presidential pardon.

      No one will spend the time, money and effort to prosecute these people when they can just wave the whole thing away with a signature.

        • Flic@mstdn.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          5 hours ago

          But then I don’t really think I understand US politics. To me it makes no sense why there isn’t an impeachment charge against him every day. He’s providing enough ammo. If he’s going to flood the zone, flood it right back.

          • xyzzy@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            edit-2
            56 minutes ago

            What’s hard to understand? Republicans control the House, and Republicans are complicit. Any impeachment charge wouldn’t make it out of committee, and any charge on the floor would be quickly voted down.

          • FiskFisk33@startrek.website
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            5 hours ago

            Me neither. I would have thought this was exactly the kind of situation impeachment was meant to stop. I am thoroughly confused.

      • D_C@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        7 hours ago

        Exactly.
        Orange ShitGibbon had boxes and boxes of top secret stuff in his unlocked toilet right next to a fax machine yet nothing happened.
        Not only did nothing happen to him, he also got voted back in again. Ffs.

  • owenfromcanada@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    177
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    21 hours ago

    No, every person on that chat (other than the editor from the Atlantic) should lose their clearance and be fired. They were all using an unapproved, off-record system for discussing matters of national security. They are all responsible.

    • el_muerte@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      33
      ·
      20 hours ago

      Beyond that, every member of the chat could see who else was in it and not a single one put in half a second to scan through the other names/initials to verify they knew everyone included.

    • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      19
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      21 hours ago

      Jeffrey Goldberg should lose his job too but for unrelated reasons. Good on him for publishing this responsibly but he sucks too. He was arguably the main cheerleader for the 2nd Iraq war.

  • circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    14 hours ago

    There is no passing the buck for matters of national security. The “party of law and order” should know that. They crucified Hillary for far less.

  • FrChazzz@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    24
    ·
    18 hours ago

    One thing I want to know is: who did Waltz think he was adding? Is there another Goldberg in the administration (or a foreign one?) out there? Or is his name right under Gabbard’s in the contacts list?

    • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      16 hours ago

      I think the journalist just went by his initials as did a few other people in the chat, so it could be as dumb as just having someone with the same initials. Which is notably not how government systems work, for exactly the reason that you need to know exactly who you’re communicating with and the system should make mistakes like this unlikely.

      Obfuscating your identity makes sense of you’re trying to talk to leakers or doing something shady and want to allow some deniability should the conversation be compromised. Which begs the question of why so many of them already had their Signal accounts set up that way.

    • Dragonstaff@leminal.space
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      15 hours ago

      I saw speculation about another person in the administration with the same initials. I think they work at the US Trade Representative (?).

  • enkers@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    40
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    21 hours ago

    Shocking. You shitcan the infosec practices and human resources you’ve built up for decades, and then wonder why your new seive doesn’t make a good bucket.

    We’ve got some absolute geniuses running things here.

  • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    19 hours ago

    Every damn person on that chat was a giant fucking idiot and it’s responsible for the data spill here with their collective agreement to use a non approved communication tool, taking about and continuing to talk about classified data on a unclassified environment, and then not self reporting they’re were complete morons for violating security that a new hire would have known better than to do.

  • orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    21 hours ago

    I always forget how low the bar for “average” is. But for the average person to realize how epically stupid Trump and his goons are takes things like this to happen.

    What gets me more depressed is that nearly 4.1 billion people on earth are below average.

    We are governed by goobers.

  • Hobbes_Dent@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    21 hours ago

    At least two senior aides have suggested that Waltz should resign to avoid putting Trump in the “bad position” of having to decide whether to fire him, Politicoreported.

    Yeah, that’s it. How dare he do this to Dear Leader and The Cause.

    How dare he make Leader have to lie away the US government risking national security and avoiding FOI.

    If anyone is flying today maybe ask the NSA people left at the airport why you can’t carry butter if buttery emails make plane sounds. Or maybe let us know if the boot leather tastes a bit buttery, maybe that’s how they polish them.

  • ThePantser@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    21 hours ago

    The outlet also pointed out that Trump’s lack of social media posts suggested he was weighing his options.

    He’s having quiet time to reflect on the choices he’s made or he’s so senile that he can’t think one thought at a time.