But then came #Hegseth’s initial response to the disclosures. He attacked #JeffreyGoldberg, #TheAtlantic editor, as a “so-called journalist,” & sought refuge in a semantic argument, saying that he had never disclosed “war plans.”

So on Wed, The Atlantic published the actual text of what he had written.

Hegseth texted at 11:44AM the day of the attack: “1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)”

30 minutes before it happened.

He & other pilots said that each day since Mon, when #TheAtlantic published an article about the chat disclosures, had brought a stunning new revelation. First came the news that #Hegseth had put the operational sequencing, or flight schedules, for the F/A-18 Hornets targeting the #Houthi militia in #Yemen on March 15 in the unclassified #Signal group chat, which included several other snr #Trump ofcls.

The news that snr ofcls in the #Trump admin discussed plans on #Signal, a commercial messaging app, for an impending attack angered & bewildered those who have taken to the air on behalf of the #US.

The mistaken inclusion of the editor of #TheAtlantic in the chat & #Hegseth’s insistence that he did nothing wrong by disclosing the secret plans upend decades of #military doctrine about #OperationalSecurity, a dozen #AirForce & #Navy fighter pilots said.

Shocker! Nah, not really:

#Trump Adviser Lied About Not Knowing #TheAtlantic Editor #JeffreyGoldberg in #Signal Group Chat

Here’s photo proof #NationalSecurity Adviser #MikeWaltz was lying about not knowing Goldberg

#law #SignalGate #USpol #geopolitics #InfoSec #idiocracy #kakistocracy
https://newrepublic.com/post/193213/mike-waltz-knows-atlantic-editor-photo-proof

#Republican Rep #DonBacon of #Nebraska spoke after #TheAtlantic published the screenshots from the #Signal “Houthi PC small group” texts.

Bacon, a retired #AirForce general, scoffed at #Hegseth’s assertion that no war plans had been shared on the text chain.

“That’s baloney,’ Bacon told reporters.” Just be honest & own up to it.”

Secy of #State #MarcoRubio said in remarks today in Jamaica that someone made a “big mistake” adding #TheAtlantic's editor-in-chief to the #Signal chat that contained info about a #military attack on the #Houthis in #Yemen.

Unlike everyone else in the #Trump admin, he didn’t defame #JeffreyGoldberg.

"Obviously, someone made a mistake. Someone made a big mistake & added a journalist. Nothing against journalists, but you ain’t supposed to be on that thing," Rubio said.

#TheAtlantic / #JeffreyGoldberg screenshots first show #Witkoff contributing to the #Signal group chat on Saturday, after he left #Russia & returned to the #US, with a stop on Friday in Baku, #Azerbaijan; however that does not mean he wasn’t opening the app & reading the thread.

Sen #AdamSchiff, D-CA, is requesting information from Dir of Natl #Intelligence #TulsiGabbard & US Special Envoy #SteveWitkoff about whether they used #Signal on personal devices as part of their jobs & is questioning whether the 2 were abroad during the chat involving #TheAtlantic's #JeffreyGoldberg.

#TulsiGabbard said the release of the additional screenshots by #TheAtlantic today “were a refresher on what happened.” But she said she stood by her responses to the #Senate yesterday, when she said she did not recall that the #Signal chat included the timing or order of the strikes on the #Houthis.

Earlier, Rep #JimmyGonez reminded them they’d been in office for less than 2 months & this all took place just 10 days ago.

While Rep Raja Krishnamoorthi, #Democrat of IL, spoke, he displayed an oversized printout of the #Signal texts published by #TheAtlantic this morning. #Krishnamoorthi referenced the graphic multiple times while questioning Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, director of the #Defense #Intelligence Agency, on whether the information detailing operational plans was #classified or not.

Kruse admitted his agency would define the type of information shared as classified.

#Ratcliffe said the #CIA officer he had added to the #Signal chat was his chief of staff, who is not serving under cover. While he chastised #TheAtlantic for making it look as if he had revealed #classified information by including the name, the magazine said it had withheld the name at the urging of the agency. The CIA typically asks that the names of most of its officers be kept secret to preserve their ability to serve overseas in undercover roles in the future.

Then there a bunch of self-congratulating & a ridiculous number of emojis.

#TheAtlantic’s #JefferyGoldberg also published all 18 #Trump officials who participated in this #Signal group chat (19 members with Goldberg counted).

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

#Trump, asked yesterday afternoon…, said, “It wasn’t #classified information.”

These stmnts presented us w/a dilemma. In #TheAtlantic’s initial story about the Signal chat—the “Houthi PC small group,” as it was named by #MikeWaltz—we withheld specific info related to weapons & to the timing of attacks…in certain texts.

At a Senate hearing yesterday, the director of national #intelligence, #TulsiGabbard, and the director of the #CIA, John #Ratcliffe, were both asked about the #Signal chat, to which #JeffreyGoldberg, the editor in chief of #TheAtlantic, was inadvertently invited by #NationalSecurity Adviser #MikeWaltz. “There was no #classified material that was shared in that Signal group,” Gabbard told members of the #Senate Intelligence Cmte.