Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had a succinct response after Jeffrey Goldberg—the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic—revealed he was invited into a Signal chat with high-level Trump administration officials discussing military strategy surrounding their war strikes in Yemen.
Goldberg revealed a highly unusual and concerning situation where senior Trump administration officials were allegedly discussing war plans over a group chat on Signal. Goldberg recounted that Representative Mike Waltz added him to an 18-person group chat, which he initially suspected was a hoax or disinformation campaign.
However, he soon realized it was authentic and included key national security figures such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who reportedly shared sensitive information that could have jeopardized American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the Middle East; Vice President J.D. Vance; Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard; and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Goldberg described the situation as becoming "truly bizarre" on March 15, just four days after he was added to the group chat. At around 11:44 a.m. ET, Hegseth sent a message to the group containing “precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing” for U.S. military strikes on Yemen that were set to occur about two hours later.
When those strikes were carried out as planned, Goldberg realized that the group chat and the information shared were indeed legitimate, confirming the seriousness and authenticity of the discussion.
In came Clinton with this simple reaction to the news:
"You have got to be kidding me."
You can see her post below.
Clinton's response is notable because this particular Trump administration scandal exposes the hypocrisy Trump and his associates have exhibited in response to the Benghazi and email investigations, which ultimately cleared Clinton of any criminal wrongdoing.
As Secretary of State, Clinton responded to the Arab Spring by advocating military intervention in Libya but was harshly criticized by Republicans for the failure to prevent the 2012 Benghazi attack. However embassy security staff was cut by Republicans prior to the attack.
Her use of a private email server when she was Secretary of State was the subject of intense scrutiny. The emails were retrieved, not deleted as Republican rhetoric claims. No charges were filed against Clinton as it was deemed a procedural issue and not criminal.
Notably, multiple members of the Trump administration were cited for using private servers, unsecured electronic devices and public apps for official White House communication.
Many appreciated her response and criticized the Trump administration themselves.
Funnily enough, President Donald Trump—who was previously charged with violating federal government policy regarding classified documents—has claimed he respects laws that protect classified information, particularly since his own aides claimed he had a “standing order” to declassify documents that left the White House for his residence.
Back in 2016, in reference to Clinton, Trump said he is "going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information."
How'd that work out?
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