The Trump admin’s Signal chat blunder is in the national spotlight

Yesterday, The Atlantic released additional messages from top national security officials within the Trump administration—including VP JD Vance—that were inadvertently sent to its editor-in-chief on encrypted messaging app Signal.

Catch up quick: The Atlantic’s latest publication follows a contentious dispute between the White House and the magazine over whether classified information about military strikes in Yemen had been shared in an unclassified Signal group chat, in violation of government security procedures and possibly legal requirements.

• The situation began on Monday, when Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg—who was accidentally added to a Trump admin group chat on the platform—published a narrower set of Signal messages regarding military strikes in Yemen.
• The White House confirmed the authenticity of the messages, but officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard repeatedly denied that "war plans" and "classified materials" were shared.
• The Atlantic’s latest article details how Hegseth posted “attack plans” in the group chat containing specific times that F-18s, MQ-9 drones, and Tomahawk cruise missiles would be used to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.

On Capitol Hill

The Signal saga has dominated congressional discussion so far this week. Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who were both in the Signal group chat, were thoroughly questioned by Congress about the situation on Tuesday, then returned for more testimony yesterday that began shortly after The Atlantic’s latest article containing new messages.

Looking ahead…Many Democratic and some Republican lawmakers have called for investigations into and/or resignations from the Trump administration in response to the Signal group chat blunder.

• On the flip side, many senior Republicans—including President Trump—portray the situation as an unfortunate mistake that doesn’t require harsh penalties or a hoax perpetrated by an anti-Trump journalist.