GOP lawmakers shrug off shocking leak of war plans


As the news reverberated around the country that top Trump administration officials had illegally discussed classified war plans on an unsecured messaging app, Republican lawmakers shrugged their shoulders, engaged in whataboutism, and even tried to justify the behavior that jeopardizes America’s national security.

On Monday, The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg reported that he’d been accidentally added to a secret group that included the vice president, secretary of defense, national security adviser, secretary of state, director of national intelligence, and other high-level officials, all of whom were discussing the intricacies of a planned military attack. And Republicans’ collective yawn is a marked shift from how many of these same lawmakers reacted to Democrat Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of state. 

And it’s likely because President Donald Trump and the White House are trying to downplay the seriousness of the screwup. 

Trump told NBC News on Tuesday that Goldberg’s inclusion in the chat had ​​”no impact at all” on the attack on the rebel Houthi group in Yemen. He also said that national security adviser Mike Waltz “learned a lesson” and that he won’t call for him to resign.

Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., questions Kimberly Cheatle, Director, U.S. Secret Service, during a House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing on Oversight of the U.S. Secret Service and the Attempted Assassination of President Donald J. Trump, on Capitol Hill, Monday, July 22, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Mike Waltz, national security adviser to President Donald Trump

In another statement, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt lied about what happened to make it seem less severe than it really is.

“Jeffrey Goldberg is well-known for his sensationalist spin. Here are the facts about his latest story: 1. No ‘war plans’ were discussed. 2. No classified material was sent to the thread.  3. The White House Counsel’s Office has provided guidance on a number of different platforms for President Trump’s top officials to communicate as safely and efficiently as possible,” Leavitt wrote in a post on X—a blatant lie as Goldberg has receipts of the information that was discussed and that a national security official confirmed was legitimate. 

“As the National Security Council stated, the White House is looking into how Goldberg’s number was inadvertently added to the thread,” she added. “Thanks to the strong and decisive leadership of President Trump, and everyone in the group, the Houthi strikes were successful and effective. Terrorists were killed and that’s what matters most to President Trump.”

Many Republican lawmakers agreed that the text chain was a mistake, but they couldn’t bring themselves to call for consequences for the administration officials on the thread.

“Do I wish it hadn’t happened? Of course. Do they wish it hadn’t happened? Of course. But this is not keeping the American people up at night,” Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana told HuffPost’s Igor Bobic. “Obviously a mistake was made. But mistakes happen, and this is, trust me, this is not going to lead to the apocalypse, okay?”

Sen. Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, also tried to downplay the seriousness of the fact that Trump administration officials were using cellphones—which are vulnerable to hacking from America’s adversaries—to discuss classified information.

“This is what the leftist media is reduced to,” Hawley said in an appearance on Fox News. “So now we are griping about who is on a text message and who is not. I mean, come on.”

Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson tried to spin the debacle by saying that the thread showed the thoughtfulness of the Trump administration’s approach to foreign policy—an insane defense.

“What you did see, though, I think, was top-level officials doing their job, doing it well, and executing on a plan with precision,” Johnson said in an interview with CNN. “That mission was a success, no one was jeopardized because of it, we’re grateful for that. But they’ll certainly, I’m sure, make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

Other Republicans used whataboutism to defend the Trump administration’s actions.

“A vegetable in the White House sat on his hands while Houthi terrorists attacked U.S. warships 174 times (and commercial vessels 145 times) since 2023. [Trump] has taken decisive action to re-establish deterrence and accountability for foreign terrorists who threaten Americans,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin, Republican of Oklahoma, wrote in a post on X.

Rep. Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican with deep ties to white nationalists, had a similar line of attack.

“Where was the outrage or calls for resignations from the left when Biden’s SecDef, Lloyd Austin, disappeared for days without telling anyone? Or how about the four yrs Biden was in office asleep at the wheel with the nuke codes?” Gosar wrote in a post on X.

UNITED STATES - NOVEMBER 19: Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., arrives for the House Republican Conference caucus meeting in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, November 19, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)
Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona

Of course, a handful of Republicans did criticize the administration—albeit tepidly.

“The real issue is putting top secret information on an unclassified device, talking about war plans that are imminent,” Rep. Don Bacon, Republican of Nebraska, told CNN’s Manu Raju. “And I am a signals intelligence officer by trade, I will guarantee you, 99.99% with confidence, Russia and China are monitoring those two phones. So I just think it’s a security violation, and there’s no doubt that Russia and China saw this stuff within hours of the attacks on Yemen or the Houthis. So that’s wrong. Everyone should know better than putting top secret war plans on an unclassified phone. Period. There is no excuse.”

But Bacon refused to call for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—who had put the war plans in the text chain—to resign.

“I’ve always had concerns, but I wish him success,” Bacon told Raju. “He got confirmed. So once he got confirmed, I turned the page and tried to move forward. This is a gross error, and it’s intentional. They intentionally put highly classified information on an unclassified device. I would have lost my security clearance in the Air Force for this and for a lot less.”

Democrats, meanwhile, are aghast at the security disaster. Many are calling for heads to roll and criticizing their Republican counterparts for not doing the same.

“We all know if a Democrat had started that group chat, there would be wall-to-wall hearings, people would get fired, careers would end,” Sen. Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, wrote in a post on X. “Today, we’re starting that accountability with an open hearing in the Intel Committee.”

Indeed, on Tuesday, two of the people on the text thread—Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe—will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee, where lawmakers can grill them on the security lapse.

Senate Democrats also put together a compilation of Republicans criticizing Clinton’s use of an email server.

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And others slammed the White House’s lies about the text chain.

“They shared specific plans to bomb foreign actors, discussing targets, strategy, diplomacy, timing, and munitions—before the strike. War plans,” Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia said in response to Leavitt’s statement. “If our adversaries had those plans American soldiers’ lives would’ve been at risk. If you’re going to lie at least lie better.”
 

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