Donald Trump: US President calls "Atlantic" journalist a "scumbag" after security breach

Astrid Lund - Betty MacDonald fan club organizer: "Donald Trump and his incompetent team are immensely damaging the reputation of the U.S. Are the Democrats and the people of the U.S. standing idly by?" ------------------------------- DER SPIEGEL Donald Trump: US President calls "Atlantic" journalist a "scumbag" after security breach 3 hours • 4 minutes read Donald Trump downplays the dramatic chat glitch surrounding US airstrikes in Yemen. While the president rails against the whistleblower and the Europeans, those involved are coming under pressure in the Senate. Donald Trump: US President calls "Atlantic" journalist a "scumbag" after security breach The embarrassing security breach, in which a sensitive secret US government chat was leaked, has left the White House scrambling to explain itself. At the center of the criticism: National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. While Donald Trump is demonstratively backing him for the time being, the president's anger is directed at the only chat member who should not have been part of the group. According to the Atlantic article, Waltz is said to have been responsible for the magazine's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, gaining access to sensitive communications surrounding a US military strike against the Houthi militia in Yemen. Goldberg, according to his own account, was invited – probably by mistake – to the group chat of several cabinet ministers and senior government officials. There, he was able to read live plans for the impending US military action in Yemen. The fact that senior government officials are even exchanging sensitive information via the commercial app Signal is causing outrage. The fact that details about an impending military strike were discussed there, and that a journalist was accidentally included in the group, is causing consternation. This significant misstep is causing a stir in the US. Democrats are demanding personnel consequences. "How the hell?" Trump brushed all of this aside, downplayed the mishap, and instead launched a counterattack. The Atlantic magazine was a failed publication and the journalist in question a "scumbag" who was "bad for the country," the president railed. Signal, on the other hand, was an app "that many people use," and the accusations against Waltz were unfair. "He's a very good man, and he'll continue to do a good job." Furthermore, Trump said, no classified information was shared in the group at all. Waltz himself also tried to downplay the serious misstep by attacking Goldberg. "There are many journalists in this city who have made a great name for themselves by fabricating lies about this president," he said. He said he had never met the journalist who broke this story. "I don't know him, I've never communicated with him." An investigation is currently underway into "how the hell" he got into the group chat. Given the explosive nature of the content, the White House had already attempted to reframe the incident politically. One email referred to a "coordinated attempt" to distract from the success of the Trump administration. Spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt stated that the crucial point was that "terrorists had been killed." According to the Houthis, at least 53 people were killed in the airstrikes in mid-March. While the White House played down the issue, two top officials were visibly at a loss for explanations at a hearing before the US Senate Intelligence Committee. National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe faced sharp questions from the Democratic opposition: How did a journalist even get into the group? Why did top officials use an encrypted but privately operated app like Signal for potentially sensitive communications? And how classified was the information shared there? During the at times heated hearing, Gabbard wouldn't even directly confirm that she was part of the group chat at all. Ratcliffe, however, admitted it – and responded to the question of whether, in addition to him, Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and others, also Gabbard was in the chat group: "I believe so." The intelligence coordinator repeatedly assured that no classified information was exchanged in the chat. Ratcliffe emphasized that his own contributions were "completely permissible" and contained "no classified information." But when it came to the specific content, both remained vague. How this account fits with the Atlantic article, according to which Hegseth allegedly shared a detailed operational plan in the chat group on the morning of a US airstrike, remained unclear. Neither Gabbard nor Ratcliffe wanted to confirm this account. They stated they did not recall the relevant details or referred to another source: the Pentagon was responsible. Democratic Senator Mark Warner finally lost his temper. It couldn't both be true – that no classified information was exchanged and, at the same time, that any information about the content was being refused. He also said it was "astonishing" that no one was willing to admit a mistake. The Democrat also expressed outrage at the tone used toward European partners in the chat. Disgust at "European Freeloading" In fact, the excerpts from the group chat published by the Atlantic show a remarkable disdain for Europe. Vance, for example, is quoted as saying, "I just hate to bail Europe out again." Another participant, believed to be Hegseth, responded, "I completely share your disgust at European freeloading. It's pathetic." Trump later supported this view. Asked by a journalist whether he shared a statement in a secret group chat alleging that Europeans were freeloading, Trump said, "Do you really want an answer?" He then continued, "Yeah, I think they were freeloading. The European Union was absolutely terrible to us in trade, terrible." According to the US, one goal of the massive US airstrikes on Houthi positions in mid-March was to restore the security of shipping routes. The user, believed to be Vance, initially expressed doubts: Only three percent of US trade passes through the Suez Canal, while the European share is 40 percent. The American public might not be able to understand the operation. The Iran-backed Houthi militia has repeatedly attacked ships in the Red Sea or the Gulf of Aden since the beginning of the Gaza War about a year and a half ago. The passage through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal is the shortest route for cargo ships between Asia and Europe. Vance and Hegseth alluded in the chat to the fact that Europe benefits when the US secures the shipping routes there. When asked later, Trump also shared the assessment that Europe is a parasite – not in a secret chat, but openly at a press conference.