Leaked war plans group chat reveals Vance questioned wisdom of Trump’s 'inconsistent' operation

24 March

In an article published on Monday afternoon, March 24, The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg revealed that members of the Trump Administration had accidentally texted him their plans for a military operation against Houthis in Yemen.

According to Goldberg, he was included, by mistake, in a group chat on the Signal messaging app — and the texts he wasn't supposed to receive included intricate details of what the Trump Administration was planning in Yemen. News of the operation broke on Saturday, March 15, but Goldberg found out what was happening more than two hours before other journalists.

Goldberg covers a lot of ground in his article, including Vice President JD Vance's thoughts on the Yemen operation. According to Goldberg, Vance questioned the wisdom of taking military action in Yemen.

Vance, addressing others in the Trump Administration — including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — wrote, "Team, I am out for the day doing an economic event in Michigan. But I think we are making a mistake 3 percent of US trade runs through the Suez [canal]. 40 percent of European trade does. There is a real risk that the public doesn’t understand this or why it’s necessary. The strongest reason to do this is, as POTUS said, to send a message."

The vice president continued, "I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now. There's a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices. I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself. But there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc."

Hegseth, however, defended the Yemen operation, telling Vance, "VP: I understand your concerns – and fully support you raising w/ POTUS. Important considerations, most of which are tough to know how they play out (economy, Ukraine peace, Gaza, etc)."

The defense secretary continued, "I think messaging is going to be tough no matter what — nobody knows who the Houthis are — which is why we would need to stay focused on: 1) Biden failed & 2) Iran funded. Waiting a few weeks or a month does not fundamentally change the calculus. 2 immediate risks on waiting: 1) this leaks, and we look indecisive; 2) Israel takes an action first – or Gaza cease fire falls apart – and we don’t get to start this on our own terms. We can manage both. We are prepared to execute, and if I had final go or no go vote, I believe we should. This [is] not about the Houthis. I see it as two things: 1) Restoring Freedom of Navigation, a core national interest; and 2) Reestablish deterrence, which Biden cratered. But, we can easily pause. And if we do, I will do all we can to enforce 100% OPSEC."

Vance, in response to Hegseth, texted, "If you think we should do it let’s go. I just hate bailing Europe out again."

Jeffrey Goldberg's full article for The Atlantic is available at this link (subscription required).

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