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New Texts Prove Hegseth Leaked ‘Court-Martial’ Level Secrets

Trump’s top officials insisted no classified information was included in the chat, but defense sources now contradict that claim.

Illustration by Eric Faison/The Daily Beast/Getty Images

Illustration by Eric Faison/The Daily Beast/Getty Images

The Atlantic has released the unredacted attack plans shared in a group chat of senior Trump officials, which defense sources say were classified at the time they were written.

Jeffrey Goldberg’s initial bombshell story about being invited to the “Houthi PC small group” on the Signal messaging app withheld key details of what had been posted in the chat about U.S. military strikes targeting the Houthis in Yemen.

After members of the group—which included the likes of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard—insisted no war plans or classified material had been shared in the group, The Atlantic released the full details.

The statements by Hegseth, Gabbard, Ratcliffe, and Trump—combined with the assertions made by numerous administration officials that we are lying about the content of the Signal texts—have led us to believe that people should see the texts in order to reach their own conclusions,” the article disclosing the full texts read Wednesday.

There is a “clear public interest in disclosing the sort of information that Trump advisers included in nonsecure communications channels,” particularly given that senior officials in the Trump administration are attempting to downplay the significance of leak, Goldberg and co-author Shane Harris wrote.

The new messages disclosed in the article detail sensitive information shared by Hegseth, including timings for airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen before they began on March 15.

“TEAM UPDATE,” Hegseth wrote in the chat in all caps at 11:44 a.m. ET.

“TIME NOW (1144et): Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch,” the defense secretary added, before outlining that F-18s would launch at 12:15 p.m. ET and that they would strike half an hour after that.

“(Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s),” Hegseth added.

CNN reports defense sources as saying that the chat definitely contained classified information because the operation had not yet started.

It is safe to say that anybody in uniform would be court martialed for this,” the official said. “We don’t provide that level of information on unclassified systems, in order to protect the lives and safety of the servicemembers carrying out these strikes. If we did, it would be wholly irresponsible. My most junior analysts know not to do this.

The Atlantic emphasized the severity of the leak—if someone “hostile to American interest” had been added to the group chat instead of Goldberg, the Houthis would have had time to prepare for the incoming attack.

If this text had been received by someone hostile...The consequences for American pilots could have been catastrophic,” the authors wrote.

Text messages from the official that followed detailed plans for more hits.

  • “1410: More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package).”
  • “1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ‘Trigger Based’ targets).”
  • “1536 F-18 2nd Strike Starts – also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched.”
  • “MORE TO FOLLOW (per timeline)”
  • “We are currently clean on OPSEC”—that is, operational security.
  • “Godspeed to our Warriors.”

I will say a prayer for victory,” Vice President JD Vance wrote in the Signal group chat shortly afterward.

Later, Trump’s national security adviser Michael Waltz wrote a message “containing real-time intelligence about conditions at an attack site, apparently in Sanaa.

VP. Building collapsed. Had multiple positive ID. Pete, Kurilla, the IC, amazing job,” he posted. “Typing too fast. The first target – their top missile guy – we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and it’s now collapsed.

The reference to ‘multiple positive ID’ suggests that U.S. intelligence had ascertained the identities of the Houthi target, or targets, using either human or technical assets,” Goldberg and Harris said.

The Trump administration has denied that the messages contained classified information. Hegseth has denied that “war plans” were shared in the group chat.

Responding on X to the latest release of messages, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said of the article’s headline—“Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal”: “The Atlantic has conceded: these were NOT ‘war plans.’ This entire story was another hoax written by a Trump-hater who is well-known for his sensationalist spin.”

On Tuesday night Leavitt said in a segment on Jesse Watters Primetime that “no classified information was shared in this group chat.

She accused Democrats of “spinning a sensationalist story out of a basic set of facts.”

The Democrats would have you believe there is a national security crisis on our hands when we absolutely do not,” Leavitt continued.

The press secretary accused Goldberg of spinning “sensationalist headlines” and called The Atlantic a “dying magazine.

Author: Dan Ladden-Hall Breaking News Editor and Isabel van Brugen Freelance Writer

Source: The Daily Beast:

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