Amid the latest revelations by The Atlantic, Alina Habba on Wednesday morning defended the use of Signal, an encrypted messaging app, by Trump administration officials.
Speaking in front of the West Wing, Habba downplayed the significance of published messages from a Signal chat that included operational details about U.S. airstrikes against Houthi terror group in Yemen.
“We were upfront about it,” Habba said. “We went in yesterday, as you saw, for the better [part] of the day and got questions and answers by everybody.”
The messages, originally sent on March 15, were part of a group thread involving senior national security officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg and Shane Harris published the contents of those messages this morning, which were inadvertently shared with Goldberg. The thread included a timeline of planned airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, prompting criticism about the informal sharing of sensitive information.
“Look, it is what it is. At the end of the day, this is — in my opinion — something that they’re making a big to do about nothing. A reporter that is trying to get clout,” Habba said.
When asked about The Atlantic’s reporting, she responded, “I frankly have never read The Atlantic. I don’t plan to, but he answered the questions, I’m going to defer to those answers from the cabinet.”
Throughout her remarks, Habba expressed full support for National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, who, by mistake, included Mr. Goldberg in the Signal chat and has since come under scrutiny.
“We stand by Mike Waltz; he’s doing a tremendous job. I think this is a distraction,” she said.
Habba went on to accuse the press of focusing on controversy rather than policy.
“I would love if the press, for once, would focus on the actual facts and actions of the administration. This is just — this is frankly just noise,” she said.
Defending the administration’s use of Signal, Habba added: “We’re also allowed to use Signal for top level official communications. We also have other means of communications that were used.”
She concluded with a pointed statement on the team’s right to communicate: “We’re allowed to have communications. That’s period — the end.”
Despite White House officials stating that the messages did not contain classified information, the disclosure of military planning has raised broader questions about the protocols followed by Trump administration officials when handling sensitive data.
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“Here Are the Attack Plans”: Atlantic Publishes New Details From ‘Tiger Team’ Signal Chat
The Atlantic has published previously undisclosed revelations detailing military plans circulated among Trump administration officials via the encrypted messaging app Signal. The plans, intended for a select group of officials, were mistakenly sent to Jeffrey Goldberg, the magazine’s editor-in-chief. In the latest feature titled “Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal,” the publication lays…
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