Clean on OpSec: Pete Hegseth Spilled Specific Details of an Attack in Advance

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The Atlantic has published the texts (except for one naming a CIA officer whose name John Ratcliffe insists is not classified) it earlier withheld.

The White House is frantically spinning, claiming these attack plans — the likes of which both Tulsi Gabbard and Ratcliffe claimed not to recall in sworn testimony yesterday — don’t amount to “war plans.”

Karoline Leavitt is even sniping at the Wall Street Journal for its shock that Steve Witkoff was on the Signal chat thread while meeting with Putin at the Kremlin.

A real security scandal is that the Signal chat apparently included Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s envoy to wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. Press reports say Mr. Witkoff was receiving these messages on the commercial app while in Moscow. This is security malpractice. Russian intelligence services must be listening to Mr. Witkoff’s every eyebrow flutter. This adds to the building perception that Mr. Witkoff, the President’s friend from New York, is out of his depth in dealing with world crises.

The meaning of Leavitt’s rebuttal is not remotely clear.

.@SteveWitkoff
was provided a secure line of communication by the U.S. Government, and it was the only phone he had in his possession while in Moscow.

If the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board cared about the truth, they could have reached out to our team for comment before running these lies.

This is classic Fake News from an outlet clearly determined to knock Steve Witkoff, who is a great patriot working effectively on behalf of President Trump to secure world peace.

She’s not denying he had Signal on the device with which he traveled (nor explained what devices he has had on his other international travels).

Update: Witkoff makes it more clear. The personal phone on which he was discussing military operations was at home.

I am incredulous that a good newspaper like the@WSJ would not check with me as to whether I had any personal devices with me on either of my trips to Moscow. If they had, they would have known the truth. Which is, I only had with me a secure phone provided by the government for special circumstances when you travel to regions where you do not want your devices compromised. That is why CBS News reported that Goldberg himself said that he “has not recounted Witkoff making any comments in that group chat until Saturday, after he left Russia and returned to the U.S.”. Guess why? Because I had no access to my personal devices until I returned from my trip. That is the responsible way for me to make these trips and that is how I always conduct myself. Maybe it is time for media outlets like the Journal to acknowledge when some of their people make serious reporting mistakes like this. I would appreciate it if the WSJ and other media outlets check with me the next time they make serious allegations. Thank you.

The desperate panic to deny the gravity of this situation, however, is a real testament to the contempt in which the White House holds the men and women whose lives were put at risk — may still be at risk — because their Defense Secretary is so incompetent he can’t bother with the least little OpSec.

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117 replies
    • Scott_in_MI says:

      They tried to walk it back by claiming that no “intelligence equities” we shared, but that they couldn’t speak for military information. We’ll see where that gets them with House Intel this morning.

      Hegseth, meanwhile, has been caught in a baldfaced lie, as he should have known he would be: he made a falsifiable statement, the evidence regarding which was not in his control. If we needed evidence that he’s not competent to run DoD (we didn’t), this is it.

      • bawiggans says:

        They are all in on “We don’t need no stinkin’ badges” and the only way to keep the momentum is to keep brazening it out.

        I badly underestimated the public appetite for spectacles of revenge, cruelty and menace in the first Trump administration, and Himself, as is his wont, has redoubled his efforts in his second go to explore the outer limits of tolerance for just about every kind of anti-social behavior he can remember from his apprenticeship with Fred and Roy. In his world one does not stop until one meets a force that can’t be bullied into submission.

  2. JonathanW says:

    I struggle to understand why folks like Ratcliffe would lie about this when they presumably know what was in the texts and had to imagine that the Atlantic would publish them when these lies came out. The only reason I can think of is that they know that the right-wing press will clean this story up for them, keeping all of their followers basically in the dark. For example, on townhall dot com there’s a story about how Ratcliffe’s denials prove that the Atlantic story is just another piece of fake news targeting Trump from the Deep State.

    So, it’s no problem to lie to Congress (there will be no perjury referrals to DOJ and even if there were they will not go anywhere) knowing that the lies will turn into news coverage that will make this whole story go away.

    Oh, and the best bit of the townhall dot com story was when Signal was called an “approved encrypted messanger app”!

    • emptywheel says:

      Bc they know that Trump watches their performance in hearings closely.

      It’ll make today’s hearing–which just started–quite tricky.

      • Discontinued Barbie says:

        But can they really get in trouble for lying under oath? Can’t Trump just pardon them for any breach, or crime?

    • Rugger_9 says:

      ‘Approved’ – by whom and how? If it is one thing we have seen from Convict-1 / Krasnov consistently, his personal approbation is deemed sufficient for damn near anything regardless of whether actual procedures exist. We saw it for declassifying the M-a-L documents, PRA violations and the EOs among others.

      In the present case, Signal is an off the shelf app, and I doubt it has been formally validated for TS/SCA use by anyone other than a minion / commissar / Elno who would not have any background about what the Russians or PRC will do to listen in. They’ll assume that lack of knowledge means our adversaries’ capabilities don’t exist. Those of us who served during the Cold War know better.

      • Marc in Denver says:

        There was this: Days after the Signal leak, the Pentagon warned the app was the target of hackers https:// http://www.npr. org/2025/03/25/nx-s1-5339801/pentagon-email-signal-vulnerability (link broken)

  3. Sean Campbell says:

    I spent many years working with the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets while my daughter was a member. It’s a youth group which gets a lot of it’s foundational funding and support from the Canadian government through the Department of National Defense (DND). I was a civilian instructor, but many of the other adults involved are uniformed members of the Cadet Instructor Cadre. DND considers them a specialized type of reservist–one focused on childhood education rather than combat. CIC officers often join directly after aging out of the cadet program at 19.

    I’m a Canadian Army veteran, and was surprised at how some CIC officers seemed to think being in uniform made them part of the ‘cool kids club’ and saw occasions where some would try to order around currently serving Canadian Forces noncoms, as well as proudly present every little bit of info they got from ‘the real’ military as if it were some secret message they alone had a decoder ring for. They knew the meaning of OPSEC as an acronym, but not what it really meant. They were hanger’s on, wannabes who were play-acting to stroke their own ego. No one with any real service experience would listen to these folks about anything let alone disclose any important info to them.

    This is how the whole Natsec crew in this Signalgate affair sound to me. It’s disgusting, and they’re putting uniformed people in harms way–not to mention civilians. How anyone could have a modicum of respect or support for these people is beyond me.

    Sean

    • Estragon says:

      “Play acting”

      Yes. This is a great observation. There really is a flavor of cosplay going on here, especially with the signal gang. Particularly Hegseth and his pocket squares, belt buckles, jacket liners, tough guy Crusader tattoos.

      Of course it’s not surprising. The boss cosplayed a businessman on TV for years, and is consumed by appearance. The phenomenon of Mar A Lago face is evidence here, as well as Don’s curious, and somewhat retro, fixation on “central casting” as if that were some kind of substantive qualification. These are not serious people.

      • gmokegmoke says:

        It’s all kayfabe, baby!

        Has anyone else noticed that the “Cabinet meetings” Trmp et alia are presenting to the media look similar to the “board meetings” in the old “The Apprentice” show?

        The Aristocrats!!!

    • harpie says:

      Yes! …so, sharing this VIDEO from yesterday:

      https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3llanun2lmk2d
      March 25, 2025 at 9:43 PM

      GREG KELLY: I think you win that comparison with Reagan

      TRUMP: I’ve heard you say that.
      That’s why I do interviews with this guy. [VIDEO]

      There’s a whole generation of [B-list actor] REAGAN IDOLIZERS in this country,
      and a LOT of them are STILL orchestrating everything the GOP does.

      Added: Oh my GOD…I just listened to that…they are actually discussing whether REAGAN’s portrait should replace Washington’s in the center of the wall.

      Who’s the interviewer?

    • Issaquah says:

      There are people who never learned the difference between “need to know” and “neat to know “.

    • Rugger_9 says:

      That’s even before considering how the DOGE commissars will discuss super-duper-pinky-swear-secret information to impress some girl. It was something we had to deal with during deployments (how did the deployment port schedule get on the jackets in Subic on the way out?) and the honey trap / sparrow is a well known KGB tactic. There was a big issue many years ago in Moscow where the Marines were compromised that way, allowing their ‘girlfriend’ in to poke around the US Embassy.

      Speaking of the Moscow embassy, we also had to rebuild it because of all of the KGB bugs riddling the walls and fixtures in the ’70s. None of this background would make any impression on the current crew but since Putin is an unreconstructed Soviet agent it is important to remember.

      • P J Evans says:

        I keep reminding myself that most of these people are under 60 and have no memories of the Cold War at its height. And The Felon Guy was too busy chasing girls (and who-knows-what-else) to notice it.

      • Molly Pitcher says:

        The Russian Consulate on Vallejo St, in the Cow Hollow/Pacific Heights area of San Francisco was so tricked out with electronic equipment, you could microwave a chicken by holding it while standing on the sidewalk across the street.

        My understanding is that ‘Krasnov’ is going to let the Consulates reopen as well. The neighbors are going to be pissed.

  4. Error Prone says:

    Watching the currently streaming House hearing now, Tulsi just discussed China’s cyber powers and intentions against the U.S. She did not mention Signal. Now, as I write, she is talking of Russian spying.

    https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-trump-officials-testify-in-house-hearing-as-more-details-on-signal-chat-released

    Now discussing Iran. Again, Signal goes unmentioned until questioning begins. Only one round of public hearing, then moving to closed session.

  5. bloopie2 says:

    Please excuse my technical illiteracy here. What is the “secure phone” that US government users travel with? Specifically, what protections does it offer (and, in this case, not offer when in the Kremlin)? And how does this relate to his usage of the Signal app there?

    • P J Evans says:

      These people sure have a lot of faith that Russia doesn’t spy on them when they’re IN THE KREMLIN. Or at any other time.
      (Are they all under 60? because those of us over 60 remember the Cold War .)

      • Legonaut says:

        GenX (and Pepperidge Farms) remembers. Or, at least some of us remember its twilight struggle. (“Why am I ducking and covering under my desk?” grade-school me asked…)

        No, it wasn’t Korea, the Red Scare or the Cuban Missile Crisis, but the end of Vietnam and the Reagan years still “left an impression”.

        • P J Evans says:

          My schools did duck-and-cover right into the mid-60s. We were in a target-rich area. (No, we didn’t think it would help.) And we were old enough to see Khrushchev on the news.

      • David Wise says:

        Doesn’t matter what phone he was using. If he so much as subvocalized, the Russians have every syllable on transcript.

    • Ravenclaw says:

      Not sure about the phone make/model, but I can say this: Witkoff says that he was not participating in the Signal chat while in Moscow BECAUSE he did not bring his personal phone with him. That is a confession that he was using his personal phone for these high-level messages/meetings.

    • BRUCE F COLE says:

      It’s as if there’s a cosmic balancing function in play to offset the appointment of Aileen Cannon to Trump’s doc case (which resulted in a lawless dismissal) after her having spectacularly botched the civil discovery portion.

      There is a motion to assign this case to another judge, I’m certain, already being “drafted” (“shat,” more like), which will eat up the scant reserves of the Trumpist “legal team.” But who knows, maybe someone from Paul Weiss will take the reins. Isn’t that what Patronage is made for?

      That, in turn, should remind us of the power that legal opposition to fascism (before all govt institutions are all fully subsumed): they are on their heels, from a defendant’s perspective, even with all their money. Their “team” is a judicial laughing stock, boneheaded motions, pleadings and arguments being their SOP. It would be laughable if it weren’t so disturbing.

      • BRUCE F COLE says:

        Too slow with the edit function to add this after the last sentence:

        Nonetheless, they are on their heels. And the Judge — who was just last week contempted (shouldn’t that be a word?), mob-style, by Trump’s team — has the most severe and disturbing intel failure in his remit, and it involves most of the same players…including the AG, who will likely be leading the “Nothing to see here, move along” defense strategy.

    • Dark Phoenix says:

      That’ll put the DOJ lawyers in an interesting position; arguing that hiding info about the deported “migrants” is necessary for NatSec, but revealing war – excuse me, “attack” plans – to a journalist is not a problem for NatSec… To the same judge.

        • harpie says:

          Docket #1: DOJ to Boasberg: We’re at war with TdA, so state secrets!

          Docket #2: DOJ to Boasberg: No war-plans, so NO state secrets!

      • Rugger_9 says:

        Preaching to the choir here, but this is an act of war ergo a distinction without a difference.

        We were briefed on rules of engagement before going out and this qualifies easily as an act of war warranting an immediate response.

        • BRUCE F COLE says:

          That’s why these kinds of actions are often euphemized, e.g., “Police Action.”

          Whether it’s headed for a reverse Tonkin Gulf triggering situation, I wouldn’t want to bet. Iran certainly isn’t without options, and Trump’s aversion to having to actually run a war (exhibited, even, by his arms-length handling of the Houthi strike) may trigger one of his now famous stand-down moves. But Iran isn’t without options — and they themselves must be feeling pinned at the moment.

          Tangentially regarding the benefit of the strike mostly going to Europe and Egypt: if that trade route is throttled, even moderately, then prices go up everywhere.

    • Dark Phoenix says:

      Read that in an article over a month ago. He was also in charge of an image hosting website that, due to its insistence on “no restrictions” became the #1 source of child porn in the Western hemisphere.

      • BRUCE F COLE says:

        The DOGE boys and many others in Trump’s orbit remind me of the emotionally stunted cretins in Michael Lewis’ Liars Poker, his depiction of another non-fiction sociopathic institution, also featuring game-playing with peoples lives and livelihoods.

        Big Balls, meet Big Swinging Dick.

  9. Chuffy sez says:

    Do we know that Steve Witkoff wasn’t just holding his phone up to some Russian oligarch, saying something like, “See? It’s done.” I’m not so sure these folks even care about Russia’s ability to surveil the private phones, it looks more like they are either giving Russia intel willingly, or they’re making it really easy to hack so they can have some plausible deniability.

    What I’m more curious about is the bombing itself. It’s not clear that our president was involved. Did he even order it? If they’re willing to lie about classified information, they sure as shit are lying about the bombing itself – the strategy, casualties, success/failure criteria…if they were all in separate rooms, and asked the same questions, would they all answer the same way? Would the president himself even know why we bombed Yemen? Can the president answer detailed questions about any of it?

    • thequickbrownfox says:

      Dimwitkoff is claiming that he didn’t take his personal phone with him on his junket to Russia. But, the way these guys lie, I don’t think we can take him at his word, because none of them appear to have any credibility whatsoever.

      • P J Evans says:

        He sure seems to have a lot of faith in whatever he’s been told about Signal. And whatever Putin tells him.

      • Ravenclaw says:

        And if true, it is a confession that he was using his personal phone to conduct high-level, classified government business.

      • John Paul Jones says:

        That’s what I wondered when I read his statement. I think it’s entirely possible that the phone went with him, but he didn’t use it, so he thinks he’s safe. The problem with Signal is that messages are only encrypted in transit; they remain on the phone. Thus, if he did take it with him, it’s entirely possible the messages were read.

  10. QuadrantFive says:

    A huge question (I believe) about this whole fiasco is how and why Jeff Goldberg got onto this Signal group. This point was made by Denver Riggleman on MSNBC last night, where he stressed that it requires at least a couple steps to add a party to the group chat. As I am unfamiliar with the app, if this is wrong please feel free to educate me.

    However, if this is true and the addition wasn’t made with just one click, it makes the addition of Goldberg probably more nefarious. One answer that Riggleman threw out was that Mike Waltz was leaking other info to Goldberg and already had him in his contacts list. But with having to double check an additional person to the group that makes this less likely (unless for some reason Waltz wanted this out there).

    I have another (granted this is speculative) theory. Waltz wanted to add an outsider to the group but got the names mixed up. Maybe Waltz was trying to provide this information to his foreign contact (I.e. spy) who had a similar last name. Either that or he got punked into adding Goldberg in by someone he thought was friendly.

    I’d love to hear other thoughts!

    • SotekPrime says:

      Jamieson Greer would have also shown up in Signal as “JG” and would have been at least vaguely plausible as an add.

      • QuadrantFive says:

        Obviously Jamieson Greer makes sense because of his position and matching initials. But that doesn’t answer why Goldberg was also in Waltz’s contact list. Maybe an old contact number from a DC dinner party?

    • JR_in_Mass says:

      How about:

      Waltz’s phone/Signal account was compromised, and Goldberg was invited and added without Waltz’s knowledge.

      Obviously, this would be noticed, as intended, and would invite the question of what other conversations might have been viewed, and by whom.

      • QuadrantFive says:

        I like this theory. Then the question becomes who compromised the chat and for what purpose. Maybe a Five Eyes spook to embarrass the US? The Ukrainians? The possibilities are endless.

    • TrevofOz says:

      My immediate reaction was to facebook/linked in search : Jeffrey Goldberg. The most likely intended invitee was a Jeffrey Goldberg Israeli military intel official they probably needed to keep ‘in the loop’. Oops
      I’ve tried the search again without success but I’m sure he’s findable.

  12. Savage Librarian says:

    Wigged-out

    You’ll never know
    how much we do connive through
    You’ll never know
    how much we really share

    Mission:
    Do you want to share a Signal?
    Do you promise not to tell?
    Whoa, oh, oh

    Poser
    Got his whiskey and a beer
    Got the birds and bombardiers
    Hand in glove with you
    Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ooh

    They’ve known a secret
    for a week or two
    Nobody knows,
    Now we do

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T7iFfkX_nA

    “Do You Want To Know A Secret”

      • Savage Librarian says:

        I’m glad. And glad you reminded me of that fascist J6 film at the rally. I have a lot more to say, but it may take me awhile to get it together. Later today, or maybe tomorrow.

        • Ginevra diBenci says:

          I’m singing too! And speaking of fascists at J6, don’t forget our new ambassador to (Apartheid) South Africa, Brent Bozell III, whose spawn, Brent Bozell IV got arrested in the Capitol…and of course pardoned by Trump.

  13. xyxyxyxy says:

    OT: Supposedly Vance said…he wanted to check out Greenland’s security situation given the number of other countries that “have threatened Greenland, have threatened to use its territories and its waterways to threaten the United States, to threaten Canada, and of course, to threaten the people of Greenland.”
    I may have missed it, but what countries have made these threats?

    • P J Evans says:

      None that I’ve heard of – no one NATO would, and that leaves Russia, which might like a base on the Atlantic Ocean.

    • gruntfuttock says:

      And, if you’ll pardon me for stating the obvious, after the last couple of days, why the effing fuck would anybody think Greenland will be more secure with these bozos in charge? Least of all anybody who actually lives there.

      Never mind how the USA has treated other native populations.

      Vance wants to check out the land before sending the troops in.

  15. P J Evans says:

    It’s been pointed out that the acting chair of the Joint Chiefs was NOT in this group chat. At all.

    • BRUCE F COLE says:

      …which indicates rather eloquently that this wasn’t a militarily-conceived or -necessitated action. It was a political stunt using American bombs, telemetry and aircraft, all instruments and actions of war, but in the service of domestic political point-scoring: “We did what Biden couldn’t do.”

      It also indicates that actual military advice wasn’t deemed important or even wanted, as non-kool-aid drinkers can inconveniently “harsh your buzz.”

      I’ll be very surprised if there isn’t serious regional fallout from this, encompassing a wide range of possibilities, fallout that could have very unintended global impacts (over and above the unintended impacts already spreading domestically and internationally from the security debacle itself). That’s the kind of thing that compounds the stupidity of excluding the military.

  16. earlofhuntingdon says:

    Leavitt and Witkoff’s excuse that “it was the only phone available” to a special presidential envoy, on an explicit mission to Moscow, rivals the, “my battery was out,” excuse. The US has a large staff and mission in Moscow. If Witkoff needed a resource, he could have gotten it quickly. Otherwise, he should have stayed off the fucking chat.

  17. xyxyxyxy says:

    Witkoff was at MAL.
    What you all think the snow you see out the window, is really sand by the beach.

  18. Jonathan Hendry says:

    I’ve seen mentions that “Signal can’t be installed/doesn’t run on Federal secure phones” but I don’t know if that’s true.

    If it’s true maybe the “secure phone” they gave Witkoff was just a burner iPhone.

    • BRUCE F COLE says:

      Yes, like Jason Bourne!

      I wonder which of the martial arts he’s a master of…
      Sharpened-putter fencing, maybe?

    • earlofhuntingdon says:

      Apparently, it’s not true, according to reporting from anonymous sources that say they were ordered by political appointees to ignore standing security protocols and load Signal on govt phones. That means they’re using Signal for all sorts of communications, deleting their conversations, and lying about it.

      • BRUCE F COLE says:

        …which also invites a revisit of Witcoff’s assertion that he didn’t have his personal phone with him in Moscow: if Signal has been installed on gov’t phones, then he likely was being transmitted to at that moment in the Putin waiting room.

  19. HorsewomaninPA says:

    “But somebody in my group either screwed up or it’s a bad signal,” Trump said on “The Vince Show” with Vince Coglianese. “You know, it’s a bad signal. Happens too. But seems to be maybe came in with a staffer, and it was by accident.”

    Yes, the POTUS actually said this today. It’s a bad signal. Or, it came in with a staffer. WTF?

  21. depressed chris says:

    1) Hegseth reported that he had received confirmation from CENTCOM. He received this either through a) a classified phone call, b) a classified email, c) a classified chat, or d) from looking at an”operational picture” on a classified computer.

    2) Hegseth could only timely relay this info to the Signal chat if he was somewhere where he could receive the classified information.

    3) The strike timeline is classified. Strike planning is a meticulous process, requiring knowledge of your target’s “pattern of life”. Nobody just says “fuck-it” and drops bombs and releases missiles wherever they want. There will be emails, chats, and, especially, PowerPoint slides which provide the truth. All will be classified.

    4) Many broke the law and lied.

    5) With enough scrutiny, Waltz and probably Hegseth will resign after much hand wringing.

    6) Yes, senior leaders are provided with “secure phones” that are stripped-out of all unneeded apps, given extra protection from snooping, and then locked-down tight. Given the counterintelligence issues with Signal, I doubt if it would ever be loaded. There are Gov provided secure chat apps.

    7) Russians are professionals. We have arrogant buffoons. Witkoff’s phone was compromised.

    P.S. Anyone can look online and track where ships are located. Each (legal) ship is required to have automatic identification system (AIS). Given the chatted strike timeline, it wouldn’t be too hard to find out what ships were near enough to Yemen. Aircraft have their own AIS too. Intelligence professional (I am not) put together scraps of information to make the bigger picture.

  22. Jim Luther says:

    Realistically, these people appear to be breaking so many laws that, from a personal perspective, they are safer avoiding any record of what is happening. Not sure if what is better for the nation is even a consideration.

    • xyxyxyxy says:

      Band of thieves and cons from top to bottom.
      Only considerations are to keep Trump out of prison and to give the US to Putin.
      They don’t give a crap for their supporters or detractors.

    • P J Evans says:

      OFFS. They have no clue about anything, do they?
      (Der Spiegel is saying that their passwords are already for sale.)

  24. P J Evans says:

    Hegseth was in the military. What’s his excuse for using insecure devices for classified information? And the excuse for leaving out the acting Joint Chief?

    • John Paul Jones says:

      The military (who actually conducted the strike) were most likely using a secure device, which implies that Hegseth at least was working two phones, a secure one linking to the military and the insecure one linking to his chat group. The fact that it never occurred to him that that might be a problem is yet more evidence of his incompetence.

    • billtheXVIII says:

      I suspect his excuse if he weren’t a total liar might be “who cares about communications security, we all know Krasnov has a direct line to Putin ?” Wouldn’t that explain the lackadaisical attitude by the principals ?

  25. FiestyBlueBird says:

    Democrats, whether holding office or constituents, need to make this as much about the irresponsibility of the Senators who confirmed these fucking clowns.

    Because it was known before confirmation they were dangerously irresponsible fucking clowns.

    (OK, maybe some involved were not in Senate confirmed spots — I confess not researching; I’m trying to live life away from this stuff — but I know some were Senate confirmed.)

  26. Savage Librarian says:

    Clown Car Czar

    So, where is the clown car czar
    Right behind the clown car star
    Together with the clown guitar
    they engineer their repertoire

    Seizing pound cake or pounds of flesh
    from the manger, from the crèche
    Musky, trumped up Gilgamesh
    just makes sure the brand is fresh

    In Johnson’s house of ill repute
    MAGAts don the old jackboot
    allowing snatchers hot pursuit
    of ill-gotten gains and purloined loot

    A whole greater than the sum of parts
    Donald’s cons are off the charts
    Deployment of these dark arts
    challenges the last brave hearts

    11/21/24

    • Ginevra diBenci says:

      I can’t believe you wrote this four months ago, SL. How could you possibly foretell all “these dark arts”?

      Because you’re a Floridian, you likely don’t associate the word “Musky” with the freshwater gamefish muskellunge. Larger relatives of Northern Pike, muskies obsess those of us who grew up in the northern midwest (or spent lots of time there when young/bored). Coincidentally, they share the same lake waters with muskrats–often to the latters’ misfortune–meaning I have two reasons to hate the fact of Elon’s last name. Muskies and muskrats are cool as hell.

  27. Zinsky123 says:

    I’m late to the party but no one has asked the simple question, “What was the purpose of this group chat in the first place??” 18 people including the Secretary of the Treasury (?) on a live chat about a bombing operation against a non-state actor in a lawless land a half a world away? Seems like a massive dick-wagging event sponsored by the extremely adolescent Pete Hegseth. I’ll bet he was aroused when he was typing all this military jargon! These war-loving types seem to get sexually aroused by this teenage junk. Also, where was Fat Donnie? On the golf course, of course. What a sad, infantile bunch of men!

    • BRUCE F COLE says:

      The opening texts by Waltz indicate that the purpose of the chat was “coordination on Houthis.” That tells me that the attack decision was already made and that the chat thread was for the purpose of getting everyone on the same page. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn04d4xdz93o

      As I’ve stated in another thread here, the real untold story is that Vance seemed, by his first comment while on a road trip, to be out of the “decision’s already been made” loop. That’s a hook that the Dems should yank on vigorously. Harris could actually make hay out of it — as could Obama, describing how Biden was fully engaged in all his major FP decisions.

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