Welcome to the online version of Of the policy desktopA night bulletin that provides the latest report and analysis of the NBC News Politics team from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign.
In today’s edition, we immerse ourselves in the last consequences and reaction after the Atlantic published the transcription of a group chat among Trump administration officials who revealed confidential information about military attacks in Yemen. In addition, Andrea Mitchell explains how the episode underlines a marked deviation from previous administrations on national security and intelligence matters.
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– Adam Wollner
Washington lidia with the growing group chat Fallout
The consequences of a group chat in which Trump administration officials discussed delicate military plans that inadvertently included a journalist continued to dominate Washington on Wednesday.
Here is the last report of our team:
TRANSCRIPTION OF CHAT SENDED: The Atlantic published a complete transcript of the messages, in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegesh specified types of US military planes and the moment of recent air attacks against huti militias in Yemen. The texts did not include information about specific objectives.
Trump’s officials react: The National Intelligence Director, Tulsi Gabbard, said that the text chat of the filtered group was a mistake, but reiterated his statement that no information classified in the chain was shared as testified to the Chamber Intelligence Committee on Wednesday. Appearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, the director of Gabbard and the CIA, John Ratcliffe, said that no material classified in the chat was shared.
The White House Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, pushed strongly against the latest Atlantic report in an informative session.
“We have said all the time that no material classified in this courier thread was sent,” he said. “There were no locations, no sources or methods were revealed, and war plans were not discussed.”
Former officials react: Information about an upcoming American military attack against an adversary is generally considered classified, according to at least four former national security and intelligence officials who managed legal issues.
The former officials did not know anything specific about the state of the information in the chat of the signal, but they said it would be difficult to imagine a scenario in which the details of military operations were not treated as secret and harmful if it will be revealed.
Legislators react: The incident has caused intense criticisms of Democratic legislators, some of whom have requested the resignations of Hegseth and Trump’s national security advisor, Michael Waltz.
Sens. Roger Wicker, Republican of Miss., And Jack Reed, Dr.i., the president and classification member of the Armed Services Committee, respectively, said they would request the report of the inspector general “accelerated” on the matter. Wicker also said he would ask for a classified information session of the administration for the members of the Committee.
When asked directly if he believes that the information discussed in the chat is, or should be classified, Wicker replied: “The information that was published recently seems to me of such a sensitive nature that, according to my knowledge, I would have wanted to be classified.”
Representative Don Bacon, R-Neb., A general Air Force general, has refuted the statement of the administration that the text chain did not include “classified” material or any “war plan”.
“The White House Nega that this is not classified or are confidential data,” Bacon said. “They should own it and preserve credibility.”
Explanator: The signal is not infallible, despite being one of the safer encrypted chat applications, Kevin Collier
Signal Chat highlights a strong deviation from the norm in the National Security of the United States
Andrea Mitchell analysis
There is nothing normal in that. For most national security experts outside Trump’s orbit, the full text messages that Atlantic published only reinforce their outrage on discussing the Houthi operation on the signal, a commercially available applications that the Pentagon warned recently is being actively attacked by “groups of threats aligned by Russia.”
The generalized anger and disbelief on all this were amplified by the Secretary of Defense of Distinctions, Pete Hegseth, and the main intelligence officials are doing among the “war” plans and the “attack” plans “. That also extended to the testimony of the director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that the information in the texts was not classified.
But the treatment of Trump team to intelligence in this case raises broader questions. Why did these conversations take place in text instead of in the situation room, which is equipped to safely bring team members who not on the site? Or in the compartmentalized information facilities (or SCIF) confidant, the Government meets the members of the National Security Cabinet in their homes? Wouldn’t a better atmosphere for deeper discussions about such an important military operation create: the new largest administration to date to try to protect international shipping in a critical maritime route of Hutis terrorists?
Where was the discussion about the possible Iranian reaction or how to notify the Israelis? If you involve Europeans? Perhaps if they had been face to face, instead of sending text messages, there would have been less posture, such as the criticisms of vice president JD Vance about the text chain that Europeans, whom he also criticized in a speech last month in Munich, should do their part to protect the international trade of Huthis attacks. Hegseth intervened, writing: “VP: I completely share your hatred of European free load. It is pathetic.” The message has fed the growing anger among European leaders in the administration.
What is also surprising is the virtual virtual virtual team through emojis: a fist, a flame, a biceps flexed. Meanwhile, when Gabbard was asked at an audience of the Congress on Wednesday about his repost in his personal account X of a taxpayer of the state media of Russia, he said: “I maintain my rights of the first amendment to be able to express my own personal views on different topics.”
Everything emphasizes how this is a significant deviation of the way in which the previous administrations of both parties have handled problems of national security and intelligence.
What else to know about Trump’s presidency today
- Trump said he was imposing a 25% rate for all cars to reach the United States.
- A Federal Appeals Court denied the commitment of the administration to raise the order of a judge that prohibits using Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Law to deport people who are supposedly members of Venezuelan gangs.
- Trump signed a broad executive order trying an important review of the US elections, which requires people to demonstrate their citizenship when they are registered to vote.
- Federal employees in several government agencies filed a complaint of collective claim against the Trump administration, claiming that it illegally dismissed employees for Dei activities.
- In comments in an event of the month of the history of women in the White House, Trump said he would be known as the “fertilization president.”
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🗞️ The other main stories today
- ⚖️ In court: The Supreme Court confirmed a Biden administration effort to regulate the “ghost gun” kits that allow people to easily obtain the necessary parts to gather firearms from online vendors. Read more →
- ⚖️ In court, cont. The court also seemed unlikely to eliminate a program of the Federal Communications Commission that subsidizes telecommunications services in rural and low -income areas. Read more →
- ➡️ hitting home: The Trump administration decision to revoke the temporary legal status for thousands of Cuban immigrants places American Cuban Republicans in the difficult political position of supporting the end of a popular program in their communities or disagreeing with Trump. Read more →
- 💲 The next Musk project: A Super Pac linked to Elon Musk has begun to spend on two seats from the Chamber of Republican Representatives in Florida before the special elections next week. Read more →
- 📝 Reconcilable differences: The Senate Republicans are heating the idea of including the increase in the debt roof that their chamber counterparts have pressed in their great bill of the party line to advance in the Trump agenda. Read more →
- 🚫 Outside the loop: The main Republicans in Capitol Hill say they were not notified or consulted on Doge’s cuts to the Social Security Administration. Read more →
- 🗳️ Proxy (vote) War: Representative Anna Paulina Luna, Republican of F-Fla., Shock with the president of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, Republican of the LA-LA., For her impulse to approve legislation that would allow legislators who are new parents to vote remotely. Read more →
- 📊 The survey says: Most voters are generally disappointed with the people Trump have designated to publish in their administration, according to an NBC news survey this month, a record participation in a question that we have measured at the beginning of four previous administrations. Read more →
That’s all of the politics desk for now. Today’s bulletin was compiled by Adam Wollner.
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