Trump shrugs off use of unsecured messaging app — backs advisor at center of national security scandal

25 March

Pete Hegseth in Nashville, Tennessee in May 2023 (Gage Skidmore)

After initially claiming ignorance of a bombshell national security breach, President Donald Trump is now dismissing the allegedly potentially criminal use of an unsecured messaging app—and the possible sharing of classified information—by 18 top defense officials, calling it a “non-issue.” He’s also voicing support for his National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, who is at the center of the growing scandal.

“Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” the Commander-in-Chief told NBC News Senior White House Correspondent Garrett Haake, who reports that the President told him he still has confidence in Waltz.

Trump opted to describe what some national security and legal experts have said is a possibly criminal act that could include all 18 of his top officials, including his Secretary of State, Attorney General, Secretary of Defense, Director of National Intelligence, and White House Chief of Staff, as a mere “glitch.”

“I asked the President if he were frustrated that the story has gotten so much attention,” Haake reported. “He said no, calling it ‘the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one.'”

On Monday, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg revealed in a bombshell report that he had been inadvertently invited to the group chat, during which the planned bombings in Yemen were deliberated, debated, and mapped out.

The President also attempted to move the focus away from the use of the open-source commercial messaging app Signal, which reportedly would likely have had to be on non-government phones, to the mission’s success.

“The President told me he believes the story is essentially a non-issue, and that Goldberg’s presence on the chat had ‘no impact at all.’ The attacks, he continued, were ‘perfectly successful,'” Haake added.

“When asked what he was told about how Goldberg came to be added to the Signal chat, Trump said, ‘It was one of Michael’s people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there,'” Haake and Megan Lebowitz reported at NBC News.

Waltz, whose account reportedly had sent the Signal invitation Goldberg, reportedly will not resign and will not be fired, Fox News reported earlier on Tuesday.

“A source close to the president told Fox News that Waltz’s job is safe and that he is not on the chopping block,” the right wing website reported. “Fox News is told Waltz has no plans to resign and is sticking to his schedule Tuesday. He will be talking to his Russian counterpart about a Black Sea ceasefire deal and has plans to speak to Trump as usual later Tuesday.”

U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), according to Deadline, on Monday wrote: “Every single one of the government officials on this text chain have now committed a crime – even if accidentally – that would normally involve a jail sentence. We can’t trust anyone in this dangerous administration to keep Americans safe.”

But on Monday evening, Politico had reported that Waltz’s future was “in doubt.”

“Nothing is decided yet, and White House officials cautioned that President Donald Trump would ultimately make the decision over the next day or two as he watches coverage of the embarrassing episode,” Politico reported.

White House staffers were reportedly on multiple text threads discussing what should happen to Waltz.

“Half of them saying he’s never going to survive or shouldn’t survive,” said one official.

“A person close to the White House was even more blunt: ‘Everyone in the White House can agree on one thing: Mike Waltz is a f—— idiot.'”

U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican of Nebraska, told CNN: “This is a gross error, and it’s intentional. They intentionally put highly classified information on an unclassified device. I would have lost my security clearance in the Air Force for this and for a lot less.”

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