Signalgate seems to have been the norm for National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, rather than the exception.
Waltz’s team had set up at least 20 Signal group chats dedicated to discussing international crises, Politico reported Wednesday. His staff “regularly” leaned on the retail app to coordinate work on issues in Ukraine, China, Gaza, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, according to four people that had been added to the chats.
All four sources that spoke with the publication said they witnessed instances of “sensitive information” being discussed, reported Politico’s White House bureau chief Dasha Burns.
Waltz’s emerging national security scandals have made him less than popular in the White House. Last month, Waltz made Donald Trump furious by accidentally inviting a journalist to a Cabinet group chat on Signal about bombing Yemen.
In the days after the initial scandal broke, Wired reported that an account sharing the intelligence official’s name had seemingly left his Venmo profile public. In doing so, Waltz disclosed the names of hundreds of his personal and professional associates, including government officials and lobbyists.
Last week, the German newspaper Der Spiegel reported that Waltz was among several senior administration officials that had their personal data, such as account passwords, email addresses, and personal cell phone numbers, listed online.
If that weren’t bad enough, The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Waltz and his team had been relying on Gmail—a platform even less secure than Signal—to discuss “sensitive military positions and powerful weapons systems relating to an ongoing conflict.”
A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll released Sunday suggested that 60 percent of polled Americans felt that the administration’s decision to use Signal to conduct highly sensitive government business was “wrong”—that included 73 percent of Democrats, 65 percent of independents, and 43 percent of Republicans.
A YouGov survey published last week found that 53 percent of nearly 6,000 polled Americans felt that the Trump administration’s Signal leak was “very serious,” while another 21 percent described it as “somewhat serious.”
It remains to be seen how Americans will feel about the other 19 Signal chats.
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