Here Are the Attack/War Plans That Trump's Advisers Shared on Signal:
Did everyone catch the text at the bottom of the Signal?
Here it is, and it is illegal if the war plans on Signal are not preserved within 20 days, according to the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act:
"Michael Waltz set disappearing message time to 4 weeks."
There’s certainly an argument that using Signal for these kinds of chats was so careless that it violated the Espionage Act — but when it comes to someone actually being prosecuted, I wouldn’t hold your breath.
It is true that the Espionage Act makes it a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison to handle national security secrets with such “gross negligence” that it allows them to fall into the hands of an unauthorized person. In theory, that should be worrisome for those texting war plans to a journalist.
Is it legal for officials to use Signal for official communications?
It’s not automatically illegal, but it can easily run afoul of the main laws governing recordkeeping: the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act, which set rules dictating which records must be preserved and for how long.
The frequently used “disappearing messages” feature on Signal could pose a particular problem.
A screenshot Goldberg published shows this particular chat was set to automatically delete messages after four weeks.
A law President Barack Obama signed in 2014 requires that federal employees who use personal accounts to discuss official business to copy those messages to an official account within 20 days so they can be preserved. That means the officials involved in these discussions on Signal still have time to comply since these messages came about 10 days ago.
Trump Administration: Liars and imbeciles. MAGA my a**.
ReplyDeleteI guess the FOTUS admin shouldn't have maligned and lied about the reporter and their parent publication who were caught up in events they did not ask for or instigate.
ReplyDeleteIt's been suggested that the Signal app and those like it has been approved by the Project 2025 authors to circumvent the FOIA rules which govern more secure and traditional communication systems. Many wise minds have asked the same question on my mind - the FOTUS admin got caught this time, so what else have they done where they did not get caught using the same app?
Too heavy so here is a light hearted moment: thanks to The Style Council at Mock Paper Scissors "Signalgate" will henceforth be known as WhiskeyLeaks.
OT - sort of: The resistance is bubbling along beautifully. As more citizens are affected by the absolute reckless handling of our agencies and economy the more they collectively realize what a huge mistake they made in supporting the FOTUS. I guess the optics of sending innocents to an El Salvador prison without due process wasn't the flex the Project 2025 boys thought it would be.
In my heart specifically is the young gay barber who did absolutely nothing wrong except be Brown when being a person of color and having a tattoo was all that was needed to prove criminality. I used to think WeThePeople were better than this.
Apparently We are the women screaming at Ruby Bridges, a baby who only wanted to go to school. Shame on WeThePeople. Shame on us.
"Mick Mulroy, who was a Pentagon official in the first Trump administration, said the launch times posted in the chat by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would have been taken from a document outlining the real-time battle sequence of the operation against the Houthis. “It is highly classified and protected,” Mulroy said. “Disclosure would compromise the operation and put lives at risk. Next to nuclear and covert operations, this information is the most protected.” --NYTimes
ReplyDelete"As the administration mounts its defense, here is one test to apply: Had a news organization come to the Pentagon with these specifics before the planned attack, with a plan to publish them, would the administration argue that it needed to withhold publication because the operation would be compromised? Of course it would have — and most responsible news organizations would have complied. That undercuts the argument made by President Trump and his intelligence chiefs that the information was not classified, and therefore the leak was unimportant." --D.Sangar, NYTimes
ReplyDeleteThe great thing is that the Canary tactics have caught the mole...
ReplyDeleteNo Canary Trap in what happened. It was old fashioned incompetence, stupidity, and hubris. They know what they did was wrong, and now they're trying to spin, spin, spin. Like you just did.
DeleteWhy does Joe Con hate America? Too much borscht?
ReplyDeleteAmy McGrath
@AmyMcGrathKY
2h
Old F-18 fighter pilot here with 80+ combat missions - launch times on a strike mission ARE ABSOLUTELY CLASSIFIED.
They're now attempting to cover their poop in the cat box that is the Trump administration.
ReplyDeleteJust a guess about Joe Con and his many names - they hate now and look forward to a time when there are no Dems to blame, no colleges to blame and everything is privatized. A Xanadu of the Trump, Russia and China menage a trois. Oh- and everyone sports dozens of tatoos like Hero Hegseth.
ReplyDeleteThere’s no doubt how Hegseth got the job and there never will be among people outside of the MAGA bubble. It’s because he’s an ultra-partisan, racist, misogynistic Trump sycophant with no morals.
ReplyDelete