A journalist was added by error to a group conversation encrypted with the senior officials of the administration of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, where the confidential military plans were discussed to attack the huti objectives in Yemen.
Trump launched an ongoing campaign of large -scale military attacks against And he warned Iran, the main sponsor of the hutis, who needed to immediately stop support for the group.
These attacks began only two hours after the journalist received the information.
The measure has been criticized by the Democrats, and some call it “blatantly illegal” and demand formal investigation.
What happened?
Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic, said he was accidentally added to a signal messaging application entitled ‘Houthi PC Small Group’ on March 13.
The group, says Goldberg, included high -level officials of the Trump administration who was discussing an imminent military strike.
The group of signals seemed to include 18 senior figures, including the vice president of the United States, JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegesh unnecessary and other officials of the Senior National Security Council.
In a piece of the Atlantic entitled The Trump administration sent me an accidentally his war plans, Goldberg wrote about his experience in the chat and included screenshots.
According to Goldberg, the messages shared highly secret operational plans to attack HutÃes objectives, “including information on objectives, weapons that the United States would implement and the sequencing of attack.” He said that National Security Advisor Michael Waltz commissioned his deputy, Alex Wong, to form a “Tiger team” to coordinate the operation.
Goldberg said he questioned the legitimacy of the chat until what he read became a reality, with air attacks released only two hours after receiving details of the attack.
The National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said the chat group seemed to be authentic.
According to the Law of the United States, it can be a crime for information classified by misuse, misuse or abuse.
Waltz sent the messages that the Atlantic report to disappear from the signal application after a period of time also raises questions about possible violations of federal records of record maintenance.
What did the messages say?
The chat included more than just military coordination. It was said that some messages reflected an internal debate about whether to carry out the strike.
What seemed to be a message of Vance expressed concern about justification and the moment: “The three percent of the US trade runs through Suez [Canal]. Forty percent of European trade does. There is a real risk that the public does not understand this or why it is necessary. The strongest reason to do this is, as Potus said, send a message. “
In another message, Vance’s account questioned Trump’s broader strategy: “I am not sure that the president is aware of how inconsistent this is with his message in Europe at this time … There is a strong argument to delay this for a month, do the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is.”
The discussion also showed debates about whether the allies in Europe deserved help.
“@Peteheghseth, if you think we should do it, let’s go,” identified a person like Vance he wrote. “I simply hate to rescue Europe again,” the person wrote, adding: “We ensure that our messages are tight here.”
A person identified as Hegseth replied: “VP: I completely share their hatred of European free load. It is pathetic.”
Goldberg did not publish the most sensitive details, but described the exchange as a “surprisingly reckless” use of a messaging application to share national security plans.
What has been the reaction?
The incident has raised serious concerns about how the Trump administration manages the classified information and if it meets the security protocols. There are also concerns that it could be a violation of the United States Espionage Law.
Democratic leaders have condemned the incident, asking for an investigation.
Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton expressed her shock in a position on X.
“You have to be joking,” he wrote, along with an eye emoji and a screenshot of the headline and the first paragraph of the Atlantic article.
The use of Clinton of a private server for emails classified during his time as Secretary of State under then President Barack Obama was a key issue in the 2016 campaign.
“This is one of the most impressive violations of military intelligence on which I have read in a lot, a long time,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, adding that he would ask the majority leader John Thune to investigate.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said in X that the use of the signal to discuss highly sensitive national security issues was “blatantly illegal and dangerous beyond belief.”
Democratic senator Chris Coans said in X: “Each of the government officials in this text chain has now committed a crime, even if accidentally, that would normally involve a jail sentence.”
Trump told reporters on Wednesday AEDT that he was not aware of the incident: “I don’t know anything about it. I am not a great admirer of the Atlantic,” he said.
Later, a White House official confirmed that Trump had been informed since then and internal investigation was being carried out.
Despite the violent reaction, Hughes defended the chat, describing it as “demonstration of deep and reflective political coordination between senior officials.”
“The continuous success of Operation Houthi shows that there were no threats to our service members or our national security,” he said, adding that “no one was sending text messages to war plans.”
Goldberg responded to that statement in an interview with CNN: “No, that’s a lie. I was sending text messages to war plans.”
– With additional reports from the Associated Press and Reuters news agency in Australia.
