Tag Archives: Yemen

New York Times: The Message Pete Hegseth Sends the Troops

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Last week’s shocking report that Mr. Hegseth shared sensitive information about a yet-to-be-launched air attack in Yemen on an unclassified messaging app is now straining the limits of his credibility as an everyman — and his fitness to lead the American military’s 2.1 million service members.

Americans stationed across the globe know if they violate similar security protocols, they can expect swift reprimand, the loss of security clearance and perhaps a court-martial. In his first departmentwide message on Jan. 25, Mr. Hegseth told troops he was a firm believer in holding everyone to account. “Our standards will be high, uncompromising, and clear,” he wrote. Now those same operational security standards don’t appear to apply to him. What message is sent to American troops if that imbalance continues?

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For now, the affair raises profound questions about whether Mr. Hegseth can handle an actual national security crisis, after he’s managed to blunder into such a major unforced error.

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It’s difficult to imagine that two of his recent predecessors, Jim Mattis and Lloyd J. Austin III, who retired six ranks above Mr. Hegseth as four-star generals, would have copy and pasted such details onto a publicly available app. It’s not that either man flawlessly executed the role of defense secretary, but at least they were accountable…. Mr. Hegseth, so far, hasn’t shown that he is willing to admit any fault. Instead, he has taken a defiant tone, attacking Mr. Goldberg’s credibility and arguing that “nobody was texting war plans.”

Opinion | The Message Pete Hegseth Sends the Troops – The New York Times

Irish Star: True meaning behind [Bimbo #1] Karoline Leavitt’s nickname as White House press secretary clashes with reporters

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[Bimbo #1] Karoline Leavitt has been living up to a new nickname she was given following her first White House press briefing as she’s accused of making a disgraceful attempt to spin the Trump administration’s Signal group chat scandal.

The White House press secretary – who recently showed off what a day in her life looks like – was first dubbed the “spinmeister” by CNN back in January as she was accused of spinning information about a pause on federal grants and loans when she said payments for Social Security, Medicare and food stamps would not be affected but didn’t say what would happen to nonprofit programs like Meals on Wheels.

“It’s a classic spinmeister tactic saying I answered that when you haven’t answered it and apparently can’t answer it right away,” CNN’s fact-checker Daniel Dale said.

But the 27-year-old’s latest spin attempt has backfired as she now appears to have made a spectacular U-turn after critics accused her of lying. After The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally added to a Signal messaging app group in which top government officials discussed plans for strikes in Yemen, Leavitt attempted to change the narrative.

During a fiery White House briefing on Wednesday the press secretary told reporters: “If this story proves anything, it proves that Democrats and their propagandists in the mainstream media know how to fabricate, orchestrate, and disseminate a misinformation campaign quite well.”

She called Goldberg’s piece a “sensationalized story from the failing Atlantic magazine” while attempting to smear the reporter and doubling down on claims that no classified information was leaked.

Leavitt snapped at CNN’s Kaitlin Collins when asked about the ongoing scandal before abruptly cutting the volatile press conference short.

Head in the sand often?

True meaning behind Karoline Leavitt’s nickname as White House press secretary clashes with reporters

True meaning behind Karoline Leavitt’s nickname as White House press secretary clashes with reporters

Irish Star: Humiliated [Bimbo #1] Karoline Leavitt abruptly cuts short press conference and runs away

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Donald Trump’s press secretary appeared to crumble under pressure following repeated questions on the government’s leaked war plans

White House Press Secretary [Bimbo #1] Karoline Leavitt unexpectedly ended a news conference Wednesday after fielding tough questions about the government Houthi attack plan leak.

Leavitt, who gave a surprise glimpse into her family life, lost her temper and snapped at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins during the volatile press conference.

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Leavitt went on to highlight other efforts, such as honoring veterans and women, before going on to slam the media for focusing its attention on the government Houthi group chat story published in The Atlantic.

In the scoop, the magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffery Goldberg revealed that he was accidentally added to a chat on the app Signal where top administrators were discussing a strike on the Houthis in Yemen, including screenshots of messages with some of their attack plans. Among those in the chat included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Vice President JD Vance.

Leavitt slammed the piece as a “sensationalized story from the failing Atlantic magazine” while attempting to smear the reporter and doubling-down on claims that no classified information was leaked. She also said that Waltz, who added Goldberg, took responsibility for the incident and claimed an investigation into the matter was underway.

“If the story proves anything, it proves that Democrats and their propagandists in the mainstream media know how to fabricate, orchestrate and disseminate a misinformation campaign quite well,” Leavitt said.

She went on to accuse Goldberg, who has previously been critical of the president, of being an “anti-Trump hater” and a “registered Democrat.” Goldberg, 59, has interviewed high-profile political figures including Barack Obama and supported the invasion of Iraq over fears of chemical weapons, which Leavitt mentioned in an attempt to discredit the journalist.

Goldberg, who served in the Israel Defense Forces, has previously drawn the ire of Trump after writing a piece ahead of the November election about his alleged affinity for Adolf Hitler, with exclusive insights from top ex-staffers including Gen. John Kelly, Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff.

Humiliated Karoline Leavitt abruptly cuts short press conference and runs away
Donald Trump’s press secretary appeared to crumble under pressure following repeated questions on the government’s leaked war plans

Humiliated Karoline Leavitt abruptly cuts short press conference and runs away – Irish Star

NBC News: A DHS staffer faces serious punishment for accidentally adding a reporter to a group email

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The episode, which hasn’t been previously reported, raises questions about unequal punishment for inadvertent leakers in the Trump administration.

The bigwigs run interference for one another. The little people get the shaft.

It’s what happened to a longtime Department of Homeland Security employee who told colleagues she inadvertently sent unclassified details of an upcoming Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation to a journalist in late January, according to former ICE chief of staff Jason Houser, one former DHS official and one current DHS official. (The two officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they do not want to endanger their current or future career opportunities.)

But unlike Waltz and Hegseth, who both remain in their jobs, the career DHS employee was put on administrative leave and told late last week that the agency intends to revoke her security clearance, the officials said.  

The Trump administration, meanwhile, has largely rallied around Waltz and Hegseth, with Trump on Wednesday calling it “all a witch hunt.” 

A DHS staffer faces serious punishment for accidentally adding a reporter to a group email
The episode, which hasn’t been previously reported, raises questions about unequal punishment for inadvertent leakers in the Trump administration.

A DHS staffer faces serious punishment for accidentally adding a reporter to a group email

Daily Mail: Pete Hegseth unwittingly reveals controversial new tattoo

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Creepy!

    The new tattoo revealed in the video features the Arabic word ‘kafir,’ which in the Quran means ‘disbeliever’ or ‘infidel’ and is inked below hegseth’s ‘Deus Vult’ tattoo. 

    The discovery sparked anger from activists who are already infuriated about his tattoos featuring Christian and American images. 

    ‘Hegseth just got a kafir (كافر) tattoo under his Deus Vult tattoo—a Crusader slogan. This isn’t just a personal choice; it’s a clear symbol of Islamophobia from the man overseeing U.S. wars,’ wrote Nerdeen Kiswani, a pro-Palestinian activist in New York City on social media. 

    Kiswani described the tattoos as the ‘normalization of Islamophobia at the highest levels of power.’ 

    Others on social media felt similarly about the tattoo.

    ‘The كافر/kafir tattoo in the Quran means disbeliever,’ wrote writer Tam Hussein on X. ‘To the Muslim world the tattoo will be seen as an open declaration of Hegseth’s enmity towards them.’

    Pete Hegseth unwittingly reveals controversial new tattoo
    Eagle-eyed observers of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth tapestry of tattoos noticed a never-seen-before Arabic script underneath his arm.

    Pete Hegseth unwittingly reveals controversial new tattoo | Daily Mail Online

    The Hill: GOP lawmakers turn up the pressure on Hegseth

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    Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is under close scrutiny as Republican lawmakers criticize his handling of sensitive military information in a group chat with other administration officials that inadvertently included a journalist.

    Republican lawmakers have stopped short of calling on Hegseth to resign, but they’re warning that his decision to share sensitive details about a pending military strike against Houthi rebels in Yemen over Signal, a commercial app, is a clear “strike” against him.

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    And they’re wondering about Hegseth’s response to reporters’ questions, specifically his adamant denial that “nobody’s texting war plans” after a National Security Council spokesperson had confirmed the chat group’s reported texts appeared to be “authentic.”

    “The worst part of it is Hegseth saying himself, ‘This didn’t really happen.’ Why don’t you just admit it?” one Republican senator remarked.

    …

    And while White House press secretary [Bimbo #1] Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday sought to draw a distinction between “war plans” and “attack plans” in criticizing The Atlantic’s reporting …  

    GOP lawmakers turn up the pressure on Pete Hegseth

    Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal

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    The administration has downplayed the importance of the text messages inadvertently sent to The Atlantic’s editor in chief.

    So, about that Signal chat.

    On Monday, shortly after we published a story about a massive Trump-administration security breach, a reporter asked the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, why he had shared plans about a forthcoming attack on Yemen on the Signal messaging app. He answered, “Nobody was texting war plans. And that’s all I have to say about that.”

    At a Senate hearing yesterday, the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, John Ratcliffe, were both asked about the Signal chat, to which Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, was inadvertently invited by National Security Adviser Michael Waltz. “There was no classified material that was shared in that Signal group,” Gabbard told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

    Ratcliffe said much the same: “My communications, to be clear, in the Signal message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information.”

    President Donald Trump, asked yesterday afternoon about the same matter, said, “It wasn’t classified information.”

    So if it wasn’t classified, and if the Trump administration is going to openly insult them and call them liars …

    The statements by Hegseth, Gabbard, Ratcliffe, and Trump—combined with the assertions made by numerous administration officials that we are lying about the content of the Signal texts—have led us to believe that people should see the texts in order to reach their own conclusions. There is a clear public interest in disclosing the sort of information that Trump advisers included in nonsecure communications channels, especially because senior administration figures are attempting to downplay the significance of the messages that were shared.

    And here it is:

    Houthi PC small group
    Idiots used an unsecured public messaging platform to plan an attack on Houthi rebels. The discussion group was named “Houthi PC small group”. If these guys are Krasnov’s best and brightest, I’d hate to see their worst & dumbest.

    Source:

    Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal

    Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal

    Mediaite: Trump Just Handed His Biggest Enemy in Media a Slam Dunk

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    LOL! After all that whining about Hillary Clinton’s email server!

    Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

    President Donald Trump insisted that information leaked to Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg was not classified multiple times during a White House press availability Tuesday afternoon. But his defiant tone may have just backed his administration into a corner of litigious federal investigations, potentially giving one of his most prominent and influential critics a major win.

    …

    Pro-Trump media figures have since bent over backwards to try to defend the massive security breach, which could potentially involve crimes, given the law that Trump enacted during his first administration in response to Hillary Clinton’s email server controversy.

    Trump Just Handed His Biggest Enemy in Media a Slam Dunk
    President Trump insisted that information leaked to Atlantic Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg multiple times during a White House press availability Tuesday.

    Trump Claims Signal Leak Not Classified Could Be Criminal

    UK Daily Mail: Trump team sparks fury with ‘sickening’ choice of emojis while describing their war plans in leaked Signal chat

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    The use of emojis in a leaked Trump administration group chat discussing strikes on Houthi targets has sparked outrage, with accusations that officials made light of the sensitive topics being discussed.

    Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic magazine, revealed on Monday that Trump’s national security advisor Michael Waltz had – seemingly inadvertently – added him to a group chat called ‘Houthi PC small group’.

    The chat appears to have served as a virtual war room for some of the President’s top team, including Waltz, Vice President JD Vance, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard and Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles.

    Goldberg said that Hegseth shared the war plan with the group at 11.44am eastern time on Saturday March 15, two hours before the bombs began dropping on Yemen.

    As news broke of the strikes, the journalist checked the group chat where he found a flurry of emojis and congratulations flooding the text chain.

    Waltz updated the group at 1.48pm, saying the operation had been an ‘amazing job’ before sending three emojis a few minutes later – a fist, an American flag, and fire.

    …

    Trump team sparks fury with ‘sickening’ choice of emojis in war chat
    As news broke of the strikes on Yemen, the journalist checked the group chat where he found a flurry of emojis and congratulations flooding the text chain.

    Trump team sparks fury with ‘sickening’ choice of emojis while describing their war plans in leaked Signal chat | Daily Mail Online

    New York Times: Inside Pete Hegseth’s Rocky First Months at the Pentagon

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    The disclosure of battle plans on a chat app created a new predicament for the defense secretary.

    There’s nothing that can’t be cured by few stiff drinks:

    Even before he disclosed secret battle plans for Yemen in a group chat, information that could have endangered American fighter pilots, it had been a rocky two months for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

    Mr. Hegseth, a former National Guard infantryman and Fox News weekend host, started his job at the Pentagon determined to out-Trump President Trump, Defense Department officials and aides said.

    The president is skeptical about the value of NATO and European alliances, so the Pentagon under Mr. Hegseth considered plans in which the United States would give up its command role overseeing NATO troops. After Mr. Trump issued executive orders targeting transgender people, Mr. Hegseth ordered a ban on transgender troops.

    Mr. Trump has embraced Elon Musk, the billionaire chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla. The Pentagon planned a sensitive briefing to give Mr. Musk a firsthand look at how the military would fight a war with China, a potentially valuable step for any businessman with interests there.

    Inside Pete Hegseth’s Rocky First Months at the Pentagon – The New York Times