Summary

The Atlantic has published unredacted attack plans (non-paywall link) shared in a Signal group chat of senior Trump officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and DNI Tulsi Gabbard.

Editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg released the full texts after officials denied sharing war plans or classified information, arguing transparency was necessary amid accusations of dishonesty.

The leaked messages detailed U.S. military strikes targeting Houthis in Yemen.

    • Beetschnapps@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      6 days ago

      It’s so wild that they are very demanding of touchpoints up front but totally clueless about everything throughout the chat…

  • Doorbook@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    37
    ·
    7 days ago

    Not sure about legality, and not that the US military care, but confirming someone id, and that he is visiting a gf or family member, then bombing the house, sound like a war crime.

    • ProfHillbilly@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      7 days ago

      It is a crime and Israel is doing it too so Trump and the whole clown car just follows the lead. I am all for killing people who have done heinous shit but killing everybody in whole build just to get tom them is beyond fucked up.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      7 days ago

      We actually have munitions that don’t blow up too. We could literally have killed just him. This isn’t 20 years ago anymore.

  • RageAgainstTheRich@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    31
    ·
    7 days ago

    They waited till he entered his girlfriends apartment building?.. seems on point for the military. How many people died? I think someone said 53? And was that guy the only target? So many deaths for one dickhead…

    • rothaine@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      7 days ago

      So strange that no one is talking about this aspect of it.

      Like I’m no war expert (obviously neither are they), but wouldn’t it cause far fewer causalities, and be far cheaper and easier, to just hide in the bushes and shoot the guy when he comes out? Since they know exactly where he is?

      1 death vs 53, 1 bullet vs whatever TF it takes to level a building?

      • ammonium@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        6 days ago

        You’re going to need a team of people, fly them in and out and make sure they get back home alive or it might hurt the president’s polls. It might be cheaper but it’s much riskier. Nobody in the US cares about those 52 other people so that doesn’t really matter to them.

        I’m surprised they didn’t use drones.

    • Lucky_777@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      7 days ago

      Why kill one when you can kill a bunch. Rack it up to collateral damage then go have a beer at the bar. Maybe leak some more texts before your Telsa test drive.

      • PumpkinSkink@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        7 days ago

        More risk to the US personnel or assets, and it would be a diplomatic and domestic incident if it came out that US troops or assets were operating in Yemen. It’s much safer to bomb them from a plane.

        Also there’s the terror aspect where the US government presumably wants to cause chaos and fear explicitly to make continuing the blockade less appealing to both the Houthis and the people of Yemen.

  • FE80@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    16
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    edit-2
    7 days ago

    This is becoming a theme stretching back multiple administrations. The people at the top either don’t understand IT acceptable use policies, cybersecurity controls, classification divisions of systems, records retention policies, etc; or they are intentionally ignoring them. And for bonus points, everyone at this level is an espionage target.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_White_House_email_controversy

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Clinton_email_controversy

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_government_group_chat_leak

    • blady_blah@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      7 days ago

      They’re ignoring them. Acceptable use policies are annoying and they’re too powerful to follow the rules.

  • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    edit-2
    7 days ago

    That thumbnail makes Trump look like Gary Busey with his mouth closed. Although, I’m sure that would be an insult to Gary.

  • Montreal_Metro@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    6 days ago

    Dude literally looks like the bad guy’s top henchman that dies super easily after meeting the main character.

  • Glide@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    150
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    8 days ago

    So many people talking about the fact that this leaked, and not enough are talking about what leaked.

    We have political leaders throwing up fire emoji’s over dropping a building on a terrorist, with no regard for the, what, dozens? of innocent lives that were lost in the crossfire.

    If you have to kill someone, sure, that’s a moral position we can discuss. No one should ever be celebrating it, particularly when others died in the process. But hey, they’re not Americans, so they don’t count.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      7 days ago

      These dumbfucks have no empathy. They will tell you empathy is weakness. In reality empathy is a social defense mechanism. If we all have empathy for each other it limits the harm we do. What they’re missing is not having it isn’t some kind of advantage, historically we are the most savage to those without empathy. It causes the mob to turn their empathy off and give in to their worst impulses. They think they’ll be the first ones in history to avoid that fate. They won’t.

      • zarathustrad@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        6 days ago

        Look at what JD “couch fucker” Vance wrote. Regarding potentially delaying the strike. He didn’t give any shits about the benefits or risks to lives, only the optics (oil prices going up), politics and his hatred for helping Europe.

        Sure, clearing the shipping lanes is “good” but it’s more helpful to Europe “gross” so that’s a tick “con” colum.

        Their “worst case scenarios” were all “it could look bad”.

    • Bouzou@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      25
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      8 days ago

      It’s like the confirmation of Brett Kavenau when he threw a hissy fit about how he “likes beer”…

      That in and of itself should have disqualified him. If someone isn’t capable of being even-keeled and not throwing a temper tantrum, then they shouldn’t hold the highest judicial office in the land…

    • alkbch@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      16
      ·
      7 days ago

      Since when do American leaders care about “collateral damage” ?

    • Revan343@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      8 days ago

      If you have to kill someone, sure, that’s a moral position we can discuss. No one should ever be celebrating it, particularly when others died in the process

      I can think of a few deaths worth celebrating

    • Boomer Humor Doomergod@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      7 days ago

      We have political leaders throwing up fire emoji’s over dropping a building on a terrorist, with no regard for the, what, dozens? of innocent lives that were lost in the crossfire.

      As someone who was around for “We’ll put a boot in yer ass, it’s the American way” this does not surprise me in the slightest.

    • Tryenjer@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      edit-2
      8 days ago

      We’re talking about the same guys funded by the guy who says the ideal society is Mordor. This doesn’t surprise anyone. Everyone is expendable for the company’s machine, they wouldn’t mind targeting innocent people, let alone causing civilian casualties when targeting real terrorists.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    134
    arrow-down
    8
    ·
    8 days ago

    The Atlantic putting a paywall on this when they got the texts for free from a government handout is peak America…

      • IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        26
        ·
        8 days ago

        Exactly why I used to subscribe to the Washington Post until Bezos wiped his ass with it. I’ll have to look into subscribing to The Atlantic now.

        • bean@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          8 days ago

          Yeah I’m considering dumping NYT too. I heard Reuters was a better ‘investment’. Please someone tell me if that’s wrong. I don’t want to support Billionaires.

          • Logi@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            7 days ago

            Wired “has been killing it” during the ongoing soft coup, to quote my journalist wife, and we’ve replaced our WaPo subscription with that. We can never dump NYT just because of the recipes.

        • CobraChicken3000@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          8 days ago

          I have been The Atlantic subscriber for about 5 years now. I think it has pretty great writers on staff. Their physical subscription is pretty cheap too.

      • danc4498@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        7 days ago

        This was a gift given to the Atlantic, though. I guess you gotta milk it for what it’s worth.

      • BlemboTheThird@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        8
        ·
        8 days ago

        I’m not disagreeing in a general sense, but it’s funny to make that argument here when this info basically fell into the journalist’s lap. Very little actual journalism went into making this story possible

        • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          edit-2
          8 days ago

          But think of how much money is going to be needed for the security detail this guy is gonna need for the foreseeable future. Or the costs of retaining legal representation to help him navigate through what is guaranteed to be an endless sea of investigations, frivilous lawsuits, etc. that the Trump administration is guaranteed to launch until something sticks.

          I wouldn’t be getting on any planes any time in the near future if I were him either.

          This story may have fallen into his lap, but it sure as hell wasn’t free.

    • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      8 days ago

      JG got the texts for free but he’s probably gonna need someone watching his 6 now. And I’m pretty sure a lawyer is billing for helping them figure out how to publish the details and still avoid getting trapped into anything illegal, like naming the CIA agent.

      • dellish@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        8 days ago

        Nah, the guilty parties already told congress nothing the texts did not contain classified material, so releasing them should be fine. It’s not like this administration would suddenly change its mind now, surely.

  • TwoBeeSan@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    111
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    8 days ago

    My favorite quote is the one where he says it could leak lol

    “…If this leaks we look indecisive”

    Try incompetent beyond reason. This clown world is funny if people weren’t dying.

  • Mog_fanatic@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    100
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    8 days ago

    Lmao Waltz saying he is going to try and figure out “how the heck he got into this room” and then the first text screenshot literally says “Michael Waltz added you to the group” is so goddamn hilarious to me.

    • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      75
      ·
      edit-2
      8 days ago

      Oh wow, proof it also has disappearing messages enabled.

      I don’t know the legality of the messages being able to disappear, but the fact it’s enabled is a clear cut violation of the law.

      • bampop@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        7 days ago

        For any other administration, this would be a catastrophe. For the Trump administration, it’s Thursday.

    • barneypiccolo@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      67
      ·
      8 days ago

      Oh, yeah, these guys sat in front of the Senate yesterday and flatly lied about all of it. At the end, one of the Democrats said that it wouldn’t be long before they had the transcripts, which would be compared to their testimony, analyzed for discrepancies, and legal options considered.

      The MAGA Nazis aren’t really worried, they know there is no possible way that HitlerPig, Big Booby Bondi, or the Nazi legislature will do anything about it, and even if they did, HitlerPig would just pardon them, but at least it’s one more egregious national security lapse/lie that the Dems can beat them with forever.

      IF the Dems ever show the guts to fight back.

    • 60d@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      17
      ·
      8 days ago

      This is some real old white guy, how did this get here i am not good with computer energy lmfao

    • rustydrd@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      7 days ago

      Same vibe as that flat-earther in Behind the curve who ran this laser experiment that ended up proving the curvature of the earth and, upon seeing the evidence, went like “Huh, how about that, guess we gotta analyze the data some more to see what’s going on.”

    • brognak@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      7 days ago

      The other thing I noticed up there is that it says “MAR added MAR”. Not sure if those are two people with the same Signal/Contact name/intials, or how that happened (as a Signal user, best guess is group link but that is also would be in the log at the top)

  • ToiletFlushShowerScream@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    96
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    8 days ago

    So yesterday they lied to congress more often than they told the truth? So many “I don’t recall” when in fact they could pull it up on their phone and know? Traitors to American families every one of them

    • Samskara@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      10
      ·
      7 days ago

      I am in lots of group chats and don’t read every one of them to completion. So not all members of the chat knowing or remembering what happened is to be expected.

      • pachrist@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        7 days ago

        Yeah, but the second something juicy happens, we all scroll back and get caught up pretty quickly.

      • WildPalmTree@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        7 days ago

        You are in group chats at this level? Because, I’m sure as fuck is not. And if I was, I’d read every message.

    • andros_rex@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      73
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      7 days ago

      Lying about sleeping with an intern - impeachment

      Lying about sharing classified information on an insecure group chat - “he’s just a widdle guy 😢”

      • Bubbaonthebeach@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        15
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        7 days ago

        Especially bad when the whole “reason” for that impeachment was about investment fraud or something and only became about sex with intern after they couldn’t prove anything else.

        • andros_rex@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          14
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          7 days ago

          Whitewater real estate scandal. Kenneth Starr was investigating him for that and when they couldn’t find anything actionable, they switched to the perjury and sex.

          I’m not a fan of a President using their power to have an intern blow them (I don’t think there’s meaningful consent there), but it doesn’t compare to raping multiple women, peeping on teenage girls at Miss Teen America, and making comments about how you’d fuck your daughter if that was an option. The aristocrats!

          • Weirdfish@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            5
            ·
            7 days ago

            Stop taking away women’s agency with this “meaningful consent” bullshit.

            At the time I was in the Air Force, and a bunch of us were discussing this. Well over half the women at the table has the attitude of “Are you kidding? Of course, blowing the most powerful man in the world is hot as hell”.

            Monica was obviously into it and an adult.

            • bss03@infosec.pub
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              7 days ago

              “Sure my boss took advantage of me, but I will always remain firm on this point: it was a consensual relationship,” Lewinsky wrote in 2014. “Any ‘abuse’ came in the aftermath, when I was made a scapegoat in order to protect his powerful position.”

              Lewinsky says she now sees that her relationship with Clinton was full of “inappropriate abuse of authority, station, and privilege.”

              “Now, at 44, I’m beginning (just beginning) to consider the implications of the power differentials that were so vast between a president and a White House intern,” she wrote. “I’m beginning to entertain the notion that in such a circumstance the idea of consent might well be rendered moot.”

              https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/02/26/monica-lewinsky-vanity-fair/375452002/

              @[email protected] didn’t take away Lewinski’s agency.

              • andros_rex@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                edit-2
                7 days ago

                “Any ‘abuse’ came in the aftermath, when I was made a scapegoat in order to protect his powerful position.”

                And that’s what seals the deal for me. If Clinton gave a shit about Lewinsky, he would have at least tried to protect her somewhat in the fallout. He had fun, she had consequences.

                People on the left treated her like shit - I guess it is further evidence that Bill Maher has always been awful. She got played on manipulated on both sides. Her reputation was trashed and she had a hard time finding work after - it destroyed her career and future.

                This was a boss that took advantage of his power and authority to get a couple loads out, and then disposed of the person once they became our nation’s designated bearer of the scarlet letter.

                I had sex with men who were much older than me when I was in my early twenties. The difference was that they weren’t my boss.

                Dan Savage I think had something about “campground rules” too - if you are going to have sexual relations with a legal consenting adult you are significantly older than, it’s on you to use your greater experience to leave that partner better than you found them.

            • andros_rex@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              edit-2
              7 days ago

              Are you a woman? How the fuck do you meaningfully say no to sex with the President?

              Go fuck yourself with that “taking away women’s agency” bullshit. Bosses don’t get to sleep with employees. Teachers don’t get to sleep with students.

              Monica got treated like shit for decade. That’s not “hot as hell” unless you’re a creepy misogynist that gets off on women being public humiliated.

  • khannie@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    64
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    8 days ago

    Well, we all knew they would be damning as fuck and they are damning as fuck.

    How they goaded him into releasing those damning as fuck texts instead of just saying “sorry, we fucked up” is beyond me but here we find ourselves.

    Feel like they’re gonna throw Hegseth under the bus now.

    • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      23
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      8 days ago

      Remember “covfefe?”

      If they admit they fucked up, they look “weak” to their base, which expects “strong men.” Normal human traits like empathy and humility are anathema to these creeps.

    • OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      19
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      8 days ago

      Feel like they’re gonna throw Hegseth under the bus Cybertruck now.

  • Komodo Rodeo@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    59
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    8 days ago

    Jesus Christ, they’re just so fucking stupid. This is the kind of thing that would see employees of a major corporation fired in an instant, but I just know that these careless chucklefucks are going to be in my news feed for a while yet, possibly another four years so long as they keep currying the favour of Trump. This shit is pathetic, the rest of the world is embarrassed on behalf of American citizens for having to deal with this incompetence.