The basic elements of the Signal chat scandal are straightforward. The White House’s national security team chatted in an unsecured group on the messaging app about sensitive operational details of a foreign military strike — and they accidentally included a journalist in their online conversation.
Not surprisingly, the revelations about this debacle have created an uproar in political, legal and national security circles, but plenty of lingering questions remain. Indeed, among the most pressing issues is whether the fiasco exposed by The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg was a one-off incident, or part of a series of similar incidents that jeopardized U.S. national security.
An answer appears to be coming into focus. The Wall Street Journal, in a report on beleaguered White House national security adviser Mike Waltz, reported that the Signal chat about a military operation in Yemen was not the first of its kind.
Two U.S. officials also said that Waltz has created and hosted multiple other sensitive national-security conversations on Signal with cabinet members, including separate threads on how to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine as well as military operations. They declined to address if any classified information was posted in those chats.
While the reporting hasn’t been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, it suggests Waltz’s incredibly dangerous mistake might not have been his first incredibly dangerous mistake — and there are some national security insiders who wanted the Journal to know about Waltz’s alleged incompetence.
Indeed, Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth find themselves in exceedingly similar circumstances: They’ve received support from President Donald Trump, despite the humiliating details that were revealed last week, but they’re also badly damaged, in part because of what the Signalgate story told the public and in part because of the behind-the-scenes revelations that signal a larger problem.
The Wall Street Journal’s report, for example, noted that senior U.S. officials believe the damage to Waltz’s reputation “has put him on shaky ground in the White House,” adding that he has “lost sway with the president.” This dovetails with an NBC News report that said Trump has privately “expressed frustration” with Waltz. This coincided with a Politico report on a private presidential meeting last week in which top officials, including Vice President JD Vance, told Trump to “consider showing him [Waltz] the door.” A day later, The New York Times reported that the president sought the counsel of a variety of people, asking whether to oust Waltz. As is the case with Hegseth, the revelations about the struggling White House national security adviser are notable in their own right, but just as important is the story behind the stories: There are insiders willing to talk to news organizations about Waltz’s troubles.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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