Earlier this month Venezuelans were designated as gang members by the U.S. with little to no due process, deported to El Salvador, and imprisoned. Photojournalist Philip Holsinger with Time, who was on the tarmac when they arrived, describes what he observed. Government officials faced hard questions in a congressional hearing about how a journalist ended up in a private conversation about war plans on a commercial messaging app. The Washington Post has the details. The Trump administration’s efforts to detain and deport students living legally in the U.S. who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses have ramped up in recent days. Politico has the story. Plus, Trump signed an executive order seeking to overhaul voter registration, an Oscar-winning film director was released from Israeli custody in the West Bank, and how Baltimore residents are still feeling the effects of the Key Bridge collapse. Today’s episode was hosted by Shumita Basu.
Full Episode
Good morning. It's Wednesday, March 26th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, the fight over non-citizens' right to free speech, what one photojournalist saw when deported Venezuelans landed in El Salvador, and President Trump signs an executive order to overhaul voting.
But first, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz says he takes full responsibility for a group chat on the messaging service Signal that included several cabinet members, the vice president and a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. The text thread included details about upcoming U.S. military strikes in Yemen.
In an appearance on Fox, Waltz said he built the group, called it embarrassing and pledged to get to the bottom of it. Officials who were on that chat deny any classified information was exchanged. Goldberg, in his initial report and again on Tuesday, said the chat did include classified material.
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, two other people in the chat, Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, and John Ratcliffe, the CIA director, were questioned about the incident by Democratic lawmakers in a previously scheduled Senate Intelligence Committee hearing yesterday. Both Gabbard and Ratcliffe mostly deflected questions about the group chat during that hearing.
When Ratcliffe was asked if he agreed the incident was a big mistake, he responded no. In one exchange, Independent Senator Angus King from Maine asked Gabbard about the specifics of the operation and why they weren't classified.
You've testified that nothing in that chain was classified. Wouldn't that be classified? What if that had been made public that morning before the attack took place?
Senator, I can attest to the fact that there were no classified or intelligence equities that were included in that chat group at any time.
So the attack sequencing and timing and weapons and targets you don't consider should have been classified?
I defer to the Secretary of Defense and the National Security Council on that question.
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