Pete Hegseth denies texting war plans to journalist
Pete Hegseth denies texting war plans to journalist
On Monday, The Atlantic reported that Hegseth and Trump officials used Signal to relay plans for US military strikes in Yemen.
Summary
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denied allegations that he texted classified war plans to a Signal group chat that mistakenly included The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg.
The National Security Council confirmed the chat’s authenticity but called the inclusion of Goldberg an inadvertent mistake.
Lawmakers from both parties demanded investigations, with former CIA Director Leon Panetta warning of potential espionage violations.
Hegseth dismissed Goldberg as a "deceitful" journalist. Trump denied knowledge of the incident.
The classified plans aren't allowed out of the SCIF and the phone isn't allowed in the SCIF. Anything you learn in the SCIF cannot be stored, shared, or spoken about outside of a SCIF especially on electronic media. If anyone in the military did this, like lets say Chelsea Manning, and shared it with a journalist, like say Julian Assange, they would end up in prison for a while.
The fucking White House confirmed this shit.
Working the playbook. Step 1: Deny
Lmfao
The editor in chief of The Atlantic wrote an op-ed on the whole episode, and they have corroborated and confirmed from multiple sources that he was, indeed, inadvertently shown data that is considered SCI in a Signal group chat that was likely conducted through the personal devices of administration officials.
There is no debate here. That happened. This is like rear ending someone in your car and totaling both vehicles and just refusing to even acknowledge that you even felt anything.
"You're talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who's made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again...This is a guy who peddles in garbage.
Hegseth then added, "oh wait, that's me."
House Speaker Mike Johnson to reporters on Monday after news of the messages spread: "I just was with the president in the Oval Office just now. The administration is addressing what happened. Apparently, an inadvertent phone number made it onto that thread. They are going to track that down and make sure it doesn't happen again."
Sounds great, how about we start by following fucking protocol? And not using a chat app on a damn mobile phone to have discussions on this scale?? Huh???
Jesus, these people are so fucking predictable.
I'm not usually an alarmist, but this one has the hair on the back of my neck up...
This feels like a false flag to target journalists spreading "misinformation."
I was reading the Atlantic article thinking 'What a bunch of dumb fucks." Until I read this part:
The Hegseth message goes on to state, “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
Hard stop right there. "This is intentional."
Then Tulsi comes out talking about "aggressively pursuing" journalists., and now P Heggs is just gonna play dumb?
Smells pretty bad, imo.
(False flag may not be the right term here, but I hope my point is still clear enough)
Fuck you Pete 'DUI Hire' Hegseth.
You used a non-approved communication application and caused a massive data leak with you and your incompetent morons in office using OpSec that my junior engineers know better and if any one else did what you did, that's be fired and be facing charges.
Fucking pathetic children who can't take any accountability.
He must have been drunk and had a blackout.
Having complete morons in charge does confer particular tactical advantages.
"Wasn't me"
— Pete Hegseth
Ah yes, the classic Shaggy defense. What's that shit conservatives say? We're still in the first year.
Prove that the sender of that message doesn't match the cryptographic fingerprint of Hegseth. If he didn't send it, then it wont match.
Signal allows you to verify all your contacts in the group chat.
This is so easy to solve. Jfc
The journalist just has to show the safety number of the person who sent it, and hegseth has to verify it with his device. They're obviously already in each others contacts, or at least are aware of each other's presence in the group chat. Its pretty hard to ignore some random journalist entering the chat since it alerts the entire group.
What makes signal great is, yes, privacy, but also the authentication of your contacts. You know you can't possibly be talking to someone else's device if you have verified their safety number.
inadvertent mistake.
Lets give the benefit of the doubt and say it was a mistake. Is that a matter and a position, where such a mistake is tolerable? Or is it something that disqualifies for any position in that domain and demands immediate resignation?
Because if you seriously make a mistake, and you realize the gravity of it, you take responsibility for it. If you instead remain in position, you either don't recognize the gravity of it, which is an even bigger reason to resign, or you indeed acted with intent.
But in this case it did not start with inviting Goldberg. It started with making a chat group on an unauthorized app, likely using unauthorized devices to discuss matters that are explicitly forbidden to be taken out of specific permitted official channels.
Witkoff in Moscow when added to chat?
https://bsky.app/profile/olgalautman.bsky.social/post/3ll663snbc224
It's deny, deflect, and then what? Let's see I didn't do, I did it but her emails, I did it so what? An I missing a step?
"Nuh uh" is what you're going with, huh? The screenshots, the validation from your own administration... and your response is "didnt happen"?
"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command"
Pete blames it on his wife who he's going to beat later on. She should have told him that journalists can take screenshots.
Oh sure, now he wants to wash his hands of something.
"Uh, wasn't me." -Sec Def
They're saying he didn't share classified war plans and you need to check the word usage with such lies. What probably happened was that they declassified everything that was shared. So what he is saying is now technically correct - the war plans are not classified. So he did not share 'classified' plans. This would also mean Tulsi is not 'lying' when she says that no classified information was shared. Typical obfuscation of facts by words.
If he was blackout drunk at the time and he doesn’t remember sending it now, is he culpable when he’s sober? No. Clearly not. The buck stops somewhere.
I demand consequences
To be fair he was probably blacked out at the time
Shambolic reporting featuring bothsides arguements. Farce masquerading as truth. America deserves what it voted for (or didn't bother to).
First reaction from the republicans, This was a mistake, and we all make mistakes. Second round, these messages show how great our officials at doing their jobs and making the hard decisions. The latest , that never happened to begin with, it's a disgraced news outlet and a disgraced journalist. Even their spin doctors are dumb as fuck. Pick one and stick with it you imbeciles...this abc politics