Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Of all the group chat mishaps to make their way into the news, this one's rather unusual.
00:05One lucky journalist, the Atlantic Magazine's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, got accidentally
00:11added to a signal chat with top American officials, in which the Defence Secretary posted about
00:18plans to airstrike Yemen, which then happened on March 15th.
00:23The group included the Vice President, Secretary of State, the CIA Director, several other
00:29senior officials as well.
00:31Let's get the latest now from Fraser Jackson, our Washington correspondent.
00:34Fraser, what on earth?
00:36Well, it's the scoop of the century, really.
00:42The journalist from the magazine, the Atlantic, added to a group chat on Signal, where top
00:47US officials were discussing an upcoming strike on Houthis in Yemen, which then took place
00:52on the 15th of March.
00:53Of course, the Houthis have been interfering with shipping in the crucial Suez Canal for
00:57months at that point.
00:58Well, there were 18 people in that chat, including Vice President J.D. Vance, the Secretary of
01:03Defence, Pete Hegseth, the National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, and others believed to
01:08be the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, as well as the White House Deputy Director of
01:12Communications, Stephen Miller, and the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, along
01:17with the CIA Director, John Ratcliffe.
01:19So really the top brass of the US military and national security scene as well.
01:24Now, the text messages that were then put out by the Atlantic showed a back and forth
01:30with Vance initially being sceptical of the strikes.
01:33He said, I think we're making a mistake.
01:35He goes on to say 3% of US trade runs through the Suez Canal, 40% of European trade does.
01:42He said this is a real risk that the public doesn't understand this or why it's necessary.
01:47The strongest reason to do this, as POTUS said, is to send a message.
01:50So there appeared to be some daylight, however, between Vance and the president where he said,
01:55I'm not sure the president is aware of how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe
02:00right now.
02:01He went on to list some other concerns, including the spike in oil prices if the strike indeed
02:06went ahead, which it did.
02:07Hegseth, the Secretary of Defence, replied to Vance saying, I understand your concerns.
02:11And he argued that the messaging is going to be rough no matter what.
02:15Nobody knows who the Houthis are, which is why we would need to stay focused on one,
02:19Biden failed, and two, Iran funded.
02:22Vance seemingly then backed down, saying, if you think we should do it, let's go.
02:26I just hate bailing Europe out again.
02:29Hegseth replies, I fully share your loathing of European freeloading.
02:33It's pathetic.
02:34So some choice words there about the European allies as well.
02:37And perhaps some questions to be put to the president about his thoughts on the European
02:42allies, given that J.D. Vance, the vice president, clearly feels so strongly about it.
02:47Well, Vance's team has since downplayed the appearance of daylight between him and the
02:51president in these messages.
02:53And the reporter who put this out, Jeffrey Goldberg, said that he believes that he was
02:57added to this mistakenly because his name on Signal was his initials, J.G., which are
03:03the same initials as Jameson Greer, the top U.S. trade representative who often attends
03:08National Security Council meetings.
03:09And if that's true, that is certainly a stunning oversight by whoever set up this Signal group.
03:17And it's certainly a stunning story and leak of national security as well.
03:20Yeah.
03:21I mean, so much to get into here.
03:24Maybe the comments about Europe, not that surprising, given Trump's comments on Europe
03:28directly in the past.
03:29And Goldberg, I mean, he showed some serious restraint because he avoided publishing anything
03:33on this until now.
03:35He, I mean, God knows what he could have done.
03:38Maybe he could have changed his own name to DT and then started ordering people around.
03:42But anyway, there's been some pretty serious reaction to this story.
03:46People are saying, even the Democrats are even calling it criminal.
03:49Yeah, I think the most interesting thing really was that the White House actually verified
03:55this.
03:56Brian Hughes, the spokesperson of the National Security Council, said at this time, the message
04:00thread that was reported appears to be authentic and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number
04:04was added to the chain.
04:06He then tried to spin the story, saying that the thread is a demonstration of the deep
04:11and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials.
04:15The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there are no threats to
04:20our service members or our national security.
04:23But some members of Congress have been up in arms about that and disagree with that.
04:27Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, said this is one of the most stunning breaches
04:32of military intelligence I've read about in a very, very long time.
04:35He called for an investigation to be opened.
04:38His calls for an investigation have been joined by members of the Armed Services Committee
04:42as well.
04:44and the investigation to open.
04:46And there were even calls coming from Republicans like Don Bacon, who said that we've all sent
04:50the wrong person a text, but the unconscionable action was sending this info over non-secure
04:56networks.
04:57Perhaps the most interesting reaction, though, coming from Donald Trump himself, who, when
05:00he was asked about this at a press event by one of my colleagues, said, I don't know anything
05:05about it, and then said, I'm not a big fan of The Atlantic.
05:08To me, it's a magazine that's going out of business.
05:11And he said that the reporter was telling him about that story for the first time.
05:14So we're going to be getting more on this from the president over the course of the
05:17next 24 hours or so.
05:19But the White House says that the president still has full confidence in his national
05:23security team.
05:24Great stuff, Fraser.
05:25Get yourself into one of those group chats for us.
05:28Thanks for that from Washington.
05:31Now, do you know how to...