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Morning Report — Washington grapples with fallout from war plans leak
In today’s issue:
- White House concedes intel leaks
- House GOP eyes hearings, bills about judges
- Enemies Act against migrants may turn on procedures
- U.S. meets separately with Russia, Ukraine
Washington is reeling from Monday’s revelation that an inner circle of White House officials — including Vice President Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and national security adviser Mike Waltz — discussed in detail U.S. plans to strike Houthi targets in Yemen on the encrypted messaging app Signal.
The officials appeared unaware that Waltz had mistakenly added another member to the chat: Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. Others in the text thread included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
Members of the group reportedly discussed sensitive, classified details — including weapons used, targets and timing — two hours ahead of the attacks, which began March 15. Now, lawmakers, intelligence community members and experts are asking how the unprecedented breach of information occurred, and why government officials were discussing highly classified plans outside of secure channels.
In The Memo, The Hill’s Niall Stanage breaks down five key takeaways from the explosive story.
The White House on Monday acknowledged the authenticity of the message thread and characterized the leak as “inadvertent.” President Trump told reporters at the White House that he had no knowledge of the article, though he does have a contentious history with The Atlantic. “You’re telling me about it for the first time,” he said.
Others had harsher words.
“Sounds like a huge screwup,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters on Monday. “I mean, is there any other way to describe it?”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said the administration’s messaging was “blatantly illegal and dangerous beyond belief.”
“Our national security is in the hands of complete amateurs,” she said. “What other highly sensitive national security conversations are happening over group chat? Any other random people accidentally added to those, too?”
What happens now?
Brian Hughes, spokesperson for the National Security Council, characterized the Signal thread as “a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials” executing national security strategy. But questions remain about how the administration has discussed classified issues and whether anyone will be disciplined — or fired.
While Trump has not made any comments suggesting officials will be asked to resign, Waltz’s future is in doubt. A person close to the White House was blunt, Politico reports: “Everyone in the White House can agree on one thing: Mike Waltz is a f--king idiot.”
Several Pentagon officials told The New York Times they were shocked that Hegseth put American war plans into a commercial chat app, warning that having that type of conversation on Signal could be a violation of the Espionage Act, which covers the handling of sensitive information. Some messages in the Signal chat were set to auto-expire after a certain period of time, putting them in conflict with archiving laws.
News of the highly sensitive breach quickly drew damning comments from Democrats who faulted the carelessness. They called attention to Trump’s history of repeatedly demanding that Hillary Clinton be jailed for using a private email server for official business when she was secretary of State.
Time magazine: What encrypted messaging means for government transparency.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Monday called for a congressional investigation, saying the details of the breach reveal a “reckless” administration — one stocked with an “unqualified” Cabinet — that poses a threat to national security in the name of defending it. More fallout is likely in the days to come, as Democrats have called on congressional Republicans to have Hegseth testify before Congress and “be held accountable.”
But Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) dismissed the idea that there should be additional investigations. “I’m told they’re doing an investigation to find out how that number was included, and that should be that,” Johnson told reporters at the Capitol.
▪ Axios: Congress erupts over the leak.
▪ The Hill: Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee and former Air Force officer, pressed for all government personnel to receive training on how to handle classified material.
▪ The Hill: Congressional Republicans aired concerns about the Signal leak, calling the episode “embarrassing” and “inconceivable.” But even as some called for investigations, leaders stopped short of demanding any action to be taken against the officials involved.
The leak joins a litany of national security concerns raised in Washington as the Trump administration’s foreign policy redefines the established world order.
But the particulars of the Signal leak — its implication of top-level Cabinet officials and apparent circumvention of standard protocols for discussing highly classified information — give Democrats an opening to land an attack against an administration they view as incompetent and harmful.
“From an operational security perspective, this is the highest level of f--kup imaginable,” former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wrote on the social platform X. “These people cannot keep America safe.”
SMART TAKE with NewsNation’s BLAKE BURMAN
The questions will mount regarding how the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic was reportedly in a group thread with the senior most members of the Trump administration. Top Republicans and Democrats alike are vowing to get answers.
I asked former [Biden administration] Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh for her first impressions.
“That's the whole point of having classified systems is you can communicate quite frequently with them,” she said.
“Nobody was texting war plans,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said while traveling.
Maybe one of the only near certainties right now: we’ve just seen the start of this story.
3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY
▪ The administration will expand its social media efforts to include TikTok if the embattled video-sharing app severs ties with the Chinese government, a White House official told The Hill.
▪ A painting of Trump is to be removed from the Colorado State Capitol after the president complained he did not like it. Meanwhile, a top Trump negotiator said Russian President Vladimir Putin last month gifted a “beautiful” portrait of Trump to the president through intermediaries.
▪ U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, criticized after his 2020 appointment for various U.S. Postal Service cost-cutting policies, resigned Monday. Deputy Postmaster General Doug Tulino assumed the post and will hold it until the Postal Service board names a permanent replacement.
LEADING THE DAY
GOP-STYLE JUDICIAL REVIEW: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) does not want his conservative colleagues to demand a floor vote to impeach federal judges, which he sees as unlikely to clear both chambers, unwise politically and a diversion from the real business at hand.
So, House Republicans have two fallbacks in mind for the next few weeks.
They plan to bring up a bill that would limit the power of district judges to impose nationwide injunctions, which would respond to complaints from conservative legal specialists that have been echoed by Trump.
They also will hold a House Judiciary Committee hearing next week, to be chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a Trump ally. The majority views hearings as a way to criticize federal Judge James Boasberg, who officially blocked the president from using an 18th-century law to deport Venezuelan migrants to an El Salvador prison without due process in court (more on that, below). Trump has called for Boasberg’s impeachment, which sparked a cautionary rebuttal from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
Several aircraft flew migrants to El Salvador as Boasberg sought to block such deportations last week with oral and written rulings.
Attorney General Pam Bondi says she expects the Supreme Court “will get involved” in questions about whether Trump correctly relied on the 1798 wartime Alien Enemies Act to swiftly remove immigrants in the U.S. without legal standing who have not been given individual court hearings.
BUDGET BUSINESS: Meanwhile, Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) will meet today to focus on major differences between the two chambers and efforts to sync strategies to anchor the president’s ambitious policy agenda in a budget package that can get to his desk. The leaders share the goals of reducing taxes, shaving spending and balancing the budget. But the details matter and are likely to take months to resolve.
House GOP leaders upped the ante with a Monday statement that urged the Senate to take up the House-passed budget resolution. Senate GOP chairs, including Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (Idaho) and Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (S.C.), want to rewrite the House budget resolution. However, Senate conservatives will back the Speaker’s call for swift passage of the House measure, which promises to divide the Senate GOP conference and revive simmering arguments.
Republicans in Congress also must figure out a way to raise the nation’s rapidly dwindling borrowing authority, known as the debt limit, which Trump has been urging them to fix. The government is likely to exhaust its borrowing authority between July and October. The closer the U.S. gets to potential default, the more rattled businesses, consumers, borrowers and financial markets become — in an already uncertain economic environment. Both parties in Congress and Trump officials reiterate that default is out of the question.
WHERE AND WHEN
- The House will meet at 10 a.m.
- The Senate will convene at 10 a.m.
- The president will have lunch with Vice President Vance at 12:30 p.m. at the White House. Trump will sign executive orders at 2 p.m. in the Oval Office.
ZOOM IN
“NAZIS GOT BETTER TREATMENT”: A federal three-judge appeals court panel in Washington, D.C., on Monday did not immediately rule on the administration's request to lift Judge Boasberg’s order that halted deportations of Venezuelan migrants using the Alien Enemies Act, which was last used during World War II.
U.S. Circuit Judge Patricia Millett, appointed by former President Obama, agreed with the administration’s lawyer that the wartime law is constitutional but questioned how it was implemented — asking whether, in the absence of due process, she could be labeled a gang member and deported without a hearing.
"There were planeloads of people. There were no procedures in place to notify people," Millett said. "Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemy Act."
Boasberg earlier in the day denied the administration's bid to lift his hold and found that the Venezuelan nationals the administration wants to deport should most likely first be given the opportunity to challenge allegations that they're members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
The district judge declined to lift a restraining order barring the Trump administration from using the 18th-century law to deport Venezuelans, determining migrants are likely to succeed in pushing for hearings on whether they are in a gang, which is alleged but not substantiated by the administration. Boasberg noted Trump’s “unprecedented use of the Act outside of the typical wartime context” in signing an order that allowed the removal of any Venezuelan suspected of being a member of the Tren de Aragua gang.
▪ CNN: “Principled and fair”: Boasberg had a nonpartisan record before facing Trump’s fury.
▪ The New York Times: Columbia University student Yunseo Chung, 21, a legal permanent resident since age 7, sued Trump and other officials Monday after federal immigration officials searched for the South Korean student last week to try to arrest and deport her for participating in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
SUPREME COURT: The Trump administration Monday asked the Supreme Court to block an order forcing the government to rehire thousands of workers fired as part of Trump’s efforts to drastically reduce the size of the federal workforce. U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered the administration to indefinitely reinstate more than 16,000 probationary employees terminated at six agencies, ruling that their firings were likely unlawful.
The appeal also calls on the conservative-majority court to rein in the growing number of federal judges who have slowed Trump’s sweeping agenda, at least for now.
Justices on Monday declined to take up a case brought by casino mogul and Trump donor Steve Wynn that would have challenged a landmark decision that established a higher standard for public figures to successfully sue for defamation.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in the long-running saga over Louisiana’s congressional map. The decision could determine how states can legally consider race in redrawing maps when their designs are struck down under the Voting Rights Act.
FEDERAL RESERVE: The White House could strike a massive blow to the independence of agencies such as the Federal Reserve, and experts say tensions could soon reach a critical point at the central bank.
Trump wants the Fed board and Chair Jerome Powell to speed up future interest rate cuts that would benefit businesses and consumers. The Fed, waiting for administration and congressional clarity about tariffs, taxes, spending and evolving economic activity, is attentive to its dual mandates of full employment and price stability. It paused potential interest rate cuts as prices remain elevated and economic growth is expected to decline this year.
Meanwhile, Treasury Department Secretary Scott Bessent is making a play for control over U.S. banking regulators, including the Federal Reserve.
ELSEWHERE
U.S.-RUSSIA: U.S. and Ukrainian officials will meet today for another round of peace talks in Saudi Arabia aimed to end the three-year war caused by Russia’s 2022 invasion. The talks come after Monday discussions between U.S. and Russian officials, as the U.S. moves away from a once-unshakable alliance with Europe and pursues a strategy of “shuttle diplomacy,” NBC News reports. The technical-level negotiations with Russia focused on land, shipping and energy resources, and the Trump administration has expressed optimism about striking a peace deal within weeks.
It’s unclear whether the talks will prove fruitful, as the two sides disagreed over how well the talks in Saudi Arabia were going and as Kremlin forces launched another night of drone strikes. A Kremlin spokesperson said that Russia and the U.S. are analyzing the outcome of their talks before considering next steps.
▪ Time magazine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Trump, Putin, and the endgame in Ukraine.
▪ Politico: Seven bargaining chips Trump has given Putin over Ukraine.
▪ CNN: Steve Witkoff praised Putin, struggled to recall the names of four occupied Ukrainian regions, and echoed a swath of Kremlin talking points in a remarkable podcast interview.
GAZA: Israel is making plans for a potential major ground offensive in Gaza that would clear and occupy large swaths of the enclave. It’s one of several possible scenarios the government is contemplating as it escalates its attacks and seeks to pressure Hamas to release more hostages without negotiating an end to the war. The military would then fully occupy Gaza within a few months and establish military rule, which would go beyond Israel's stated war goals to end Hamas rule and free hostages.
NBC News: Israel ramps up the risk of “all out war” in Gaza as it escalates a renewed bombing campaign.
TURKEY: More than 1,100 people — including 10 journalists — have been detained in Turkey since mass protests were sparked on March 19 by the arrest of Istanbul's popular Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was emerging as a key rival and likely election challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The apparent crackdown has deepened concern about the erosion of democracy under Erdoğan, who has led the country for more than 20 years.
The New York Times: Trump’s moves on Greenland appear to be backfiring. The Greenlandic government is calling an upcoming visit by Trump officials “aggressive,” pushing the island further from the U.S.
OPINION
▪ What the Trump war-plan chat reveals, by The Wall Street Journal editorial board.
▪ Deportation foes find a story to tell with “Andrys,” by Chris Stirewalt, political editor, The Hill.
THE CLOSER
And finally … Today is National Medal of Honor Day, which marks the military’s highest honor, awarded by presidents in the name of Congress to 3,528 recipients among 41 million men and women who have served in the U.S. armed forces.
Signed into law during the Civil War in 1861 by former President Abraham Lincoln, the commendation began as the Navy’s Medal of Honor.
Former President Theodore Roosevelt is the only Oval Office occupant to have received the medal. The youngest recipient is thought to be William "Willie" Johnston, who fought during the Civil War and received his award six weeks after his 13th birthday. The oldest recipient was Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur, a top commander during World War II who received the National Medal of Honor when he was 62.
Stay Engaged
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