Today in Politics, Bulletin 98. 3/24/25

… An explosive story from Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic revealed that he was invited to a group Signal chat where the planning was conducted and decisions were made on the first military action taken by the Trump Admin - last week’s missile attacks against the Houthis in Yemen. From the shocking story:

• I knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming. The reason I knew this is that Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, had texted me the war plan at 11:44 a.m. The plan included precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing.

• I received a notice that I was to be included in a Signal chat group. It was called the “Houthi PC small group.” A message to the group, from “Michael Waltz,” read as follows: “Team – establishing a principles group for coordination on Houthis, particularly for over the next 72 hours. My deputy Alex Wong is pulling together a tiger team at deputies/agency Chief of Staff level following up from the meeting in the Sit Room this morning for action items and will be sending that out later this evening.”

… Goldberg was then included in a continuous text chain about the operation with 18 people, including Hegseth, NSA Mike Waltz, Marco Rubio, VP JD Vance, DNI Tulsi Gabbard, Treasury Sec Scott Bessent, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Policy Director Stephen Miller, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. None of them apparently were aware that Goldberg was invited.

… The texts revealed that Vance disagreed with the operation: “I think we are making a mistake. 3% of US trade runs through the Suez. 40% of European trade does. There is a real risk that the public doesn’t understand this or why it’s necessary. The strongest reason to do this is, as POTUS said, to send a message.”

… Hegseth responded to Vance: “Waiting a few weeks or a month does not fundamentally change the calculus. Two immediate risks on waiting: 1) this leaks, and we look indecisive; 2) Israel takes an action first – or Gaza cease fire falls apart – and we don’t get to start this on our own terms. We can manage both. We are prepared to execute, and if I had final go or no go vote, I believe we should. This is not about the Houthis. I see it as two things: 1) Restoring Freedom of Navigation, a core national interest; and 2) Reestablish deterrence.”

… Goldberg: “At 11:44 AM, the account labeled ‘Pete Hegseth’ posted in Signal a ‘TEAM UPDATE.’ I will not quote from this update, or from certain other subsequent texts. The information contained in them, if they had been read by an adversary of the US, could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East, Central Command’s area of responsibility.”

… “What I will say, in order to illustrate the shocking recklessness of this Signal conversation, is that the Hegseth post contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing.”

… CBS reported that the WH National Security Council confirmed Goldberg’s story: “We are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain. The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our servicemembers or our national security.”

… Trump was then asked about the blockbuster story today after his cabinet meeting: "I don't know anything about it. I'm not a big fan of The Atlantic. It's a magazine that's going out of business. But I know nothing about it. You're saying that they had what?"

… Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ): “NOTICE TO WHITE HOUSE STAFF: There is a room in the building and secure systems where you are supposed to have these discussions. SIGNAL ain’t it. Your recklessness put the lives of those pilots at risk. You got lucky! Time to reevaluate the way you are doing things.”

… Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA): “Incompetence so severe that it could have gotten Americans killed. There is no world in which this information should have been shared in non-secure channels. Hegseth is in so far over his head that he is a danger to this country and our men and women in uniform. He needs to explain himself to Congress and be held accountable.”

… Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY): “This whole Trump admin is filled with lackeys and incompetent cronies. The Sec of Defense who was on that chain has got to be the most unqualified person ever to lead the Pentagon in American history. You’ve put these people in charge? And then you want to attack others who are actually qualified?”

… Tim Walz: “Pete Hegseth texting out war plans like invites to a frat party.”

… Hillary Clinton: “You have got to be kidding me.”

… It just so happens that DNI Tulsi Gabbard is scheduled to testify before the Senate Intel Committee tomorrow. That has suddenly been turned into the hot event of the day. Sen. Mark Warner to HuffPost: “If any career intelligence officer had made this gross mistake, they'd be fired. And this administration, I think the ODNI or others have said, we're going to seek out all the leakers. Well, we got a chance to ask them tomorrow is, who's going to bear the responsibility on this?”

… At the Cabinet meeting today, AG Pam Bondi said she has formed a task force that is supposedly going to put people in prison for all the “fraud” Elon Musk and DOGE are uncovering: “There is a tremendous amount of fraud. Elon, thank you for your team. You have uncovered so much fraud in our govt and we will prosecute. We have an internal task force working at every agency.”

… The ACLU has filed a sworn affidavit from a Venezuelan woman who was on the migrant flight to El Salvador where she says she heard ICE officials on the plane talking about the court order which had been issued telling them to turn the plane around. That would prove that DOJ lied in court when they claimed they had no knowledge of the order.

… At a minimum, this affidavit is going to result in the judge hauling the ICE agents into court and putting them under oath. They can’t hide behind Trump’s flunky lawyers anymore.

… Immigration expert Aaron Reichlin-Melnick: “She had a pending asylum hearing, ICE agents lied and told her she was being sent to Venezuela, and she was never given any opportunity to present evidence that she was falsely accused.”

… Fox host Brian Kilmeade says people who ICE wants to deport should not get any due process before they are put on a plane: "It's not practical to think we can do due process on 8 million people. If we're gonna give every one of these guys a day in a court and a lawyer, we can't do it. And they don't deserve it."

… Trump announced that he was banishing his NJ US Attorney appointee to Namibia make way for his grossly incompetent and unqualified attorney and frequent companion Alina Habba to take over there before Trump moves to Bedminster in May: “It is with great pleasure that I am announcing Alina Habba, who is currently serving as Counselor to the President, and has represented me for a long time, will be our interim US Attorney for the District of NJ, her Home State, effective immediately!

… The current US Attorney for NJ has now been named the new Ambassador to Namibia. Which he probably found out when he read the Truth Social post. Now he is googling ‘Namibia’.

… Habba: “I am honored to serve my home state of New Jersey as Interim U.S. Attorney and I am grateful to President Trump for entrusting me with this tremendous responsibility. Just like I did during my time as President Trump’s personal attorney, I will continue to fight for truth and justice. We will end the weaponization of justice, once and for all.”

… Trump supporter Rick Fuze was arrested in Berkeley for assaulting peaceful protestors with a taser outside a Tesla dealership. Berkeleyside spoke to Fuze later, who told them that he believed the group were protestors paid by George Soros and he wanted to show his support for Elon Musk and DOGE.

… Before the cops could get to him, the protestor he assaulted grabbed Fuze’s hair and put him face first into a nearby car. He was probably lucky the cops got there to save him from her at that point, because she wasn’t having it.

… Another Trump supporter, Andrew Dutil, was arrested in West Palm Beach for aggravated assault after he drove his car onto a curb towards over 100 protestors outside a Tesla dealership, almost hitting them before they jumped out of the way. Palm Beach Post reported Dutil’s Facebook account was full of Trump, Vance, and MAGA content.

… Organizer Mark Offerman, from the Democratic Progressive Caucus: "He drove into a crowd of senior citizens. Everybody was able to move out, but two older women were really almost clipped. We immediately called the cops.”

If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin recapping everything that happened over the weekend, you can read it here.

.. AOC responded to Musk’s claim that Democrats are flying the same group of paid protesters around to his dealerships: “Someone’s butthurt. At the very least you can find a new, more interesting conspiracy theory to peddle.”

… AG Pam Bondi went on Fox to threaten Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) that she better "tread very carefully," after she announced she was helping to organize a nationwide protest of Tesla dealerships on her birthday, March 29: "She is an elected public official, so she needs to tread very carefully because nothing will happen to Elon