Trump officials inadvertently added a journalist to a text thread discussing sensitive military plans, The Atlantic reports. It all took place over a non-government-sanctioned messaging app called Signal. Trump’s border and immigration crackdown is sweeping up unexpected people, including some with valid documents and some for expressing their opinions on the administration. NBC and Politico have details on individuals caught up in the chaos. The White House’s inconsistent messaging on tariffs will impact consumers and businesses. Laurel Wamsley with NPR describes how. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal looks at where tariffs stand today. Plus, new wildfires hit the Carolinas, the Trump administration invoked a rarely used legal privilege to avoid handing over flight data related to deported Venezuelan migrants, and why it might be time to delete your 23andMe data. Today’s episode was hosted by Shumita Basu.
Chapter 1: How did Trump officials accidentally leak war plans?
But first, earlier this month, just before the United States launched new strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen, top officials in the Trump administration discussed those plans in detail using a non-government-sanctioned group messaging app called Signal. And they added a journalist to their group by mistake, Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.
Chapter 2: Who is Jeffrey Goldberg and what role did he play?
Goldberg reports that he has no idea how or why he was added to the group chat, which appears to have been created by National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and included the vice president, secretary of state, director of national intelligence and others. Goldberg says he initially wasn't sure it was real. But over the course of several days, he watched the conversations unfold.
And on Saturday, March 15th, a Signal user in the chat named Pete Hegseth texted the group operational details of planned strikes against the Houthis, what kind of weapons the U.S. would be using, and information about targets. The Hegsath account said the strikes would start in several hours, so Goldberg waited to see what would happen.
And sure enough, he started to see reports on social media about explosions in Yemen's capital. Here's Goldberg talking to PBS.
That's when I realized that the chain was real. Until that point, I really had a deep suspicion that that I was being spoofed or hoaxed or being led astray on a disinformation campaign. But this all seems so improbable that I simply assumed that it couldn't be real.
Both the National Security Council and the White House have since confirmed the existence and authenticity of this group text. However, President Trump told reporters in a press briefing on Monday that he didn't know about the chat.
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Chapter 3: What was President Trump's response to the leaked chat?
The hooties, you mean the attack on the hooties? Yes. Well, it couldn't have been very effective because the attack was very effective, I can tell you that. I don't know anything about it. You're telling me about it for the first time.
In addition to the highly classified military information Goldberg was given access to, this group text also revealed information about the identities of active CIA personnel, and information that Goldberg says could have conceivably harmed U.S. military and intelligence operatives in the Middle East.
I should note, The Atlantic did not publish any of those plans or other classified details, but former U.S. officials told Goldberg, this is why a messaging app like Signal should never be used for sensitive information. Had any of these officials' phones been lost, stolen, or hacked, the signal messages could have been accessed, which would have been a serious threat to national security.
Chapter 4: What legal concerns arise from using Signal for official communications?
That's why the government has its own internal system for sharing classified information, which all cabinet-level members have access to. Raising further legal questions, Waltz, the national security advisor, also set some of the messages in the group chat to disappear after a period of time.
A former director of litigation at the National Archives and Records Administration told The Atlantic, unless these Trump officials forwarded the messages from the signal chat to an official government account or copied them to one, they may have violated federal records law. Text messages about official acts are considered records that must be preserved.
Goldberg told PBS all of these oversights highlight the recklessness of the group chat.
According to everything I understand, they're not supposed to be doing this on commercial messaging apps. They got quite lucky that they included my phone number.
If they're going to pick an errant phone number, I mean, at least it wasn't somebody who supported the Houthis because they were actually handing out information that I believe could have endangered the lives of American service people who were involved in that operation.
Retired Army General Barry McCaffrey, who served in the Clinton administration, told MSNBC it's shocking to see that not only a mistake like this was made, but also that it wasn't caught and corrected, calling the group chat, quote, amateur hour.
They all knew they were on a network that was not secure necessarily. They should all have known that their personal cell phones are undoubtedly being tracked and listened to by multiple foreign intelligence operations.
White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt said in a statement the administration has, quote, the utmost confidence in its national security team. The White House says it's reviewing how Goldberg was added to the chain. Now to the targeting of legal residents and tourists in President Trump's immigration crackdown.
In recent weeks, there have been a number of high-profile cases, including a backpacker from Wales who spent nearly three weeks at a detention center, a German woman who spent 45 days in detention, including a week in solitary confinement, and at least two people on college campuses who are in the U.S. legally but were detained for their involvement in pro-Palestinian protests.
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Chapter 5: How are legal residents being targeted in Trump's immigration policies?
And officials say Suri has, quote, close connections to a senior advisor to Hamas. Suri's wife is a U.S. citizen of Palestinian descent. Politico reports her father at one point had a high level role in Gaza's government, a role which he left roughly 15 years ago. Suri's lawyers deny the allegations that he or his wife have any connections to Hamas.
and say the government is retaliating against them for their support of Palestine. A judge has blocked Suri's deportation. In Khalil's case, the government is now saying his deportation is justified because he misrepresented information on his green card application. A lawyer for Khalil called the government's claims meritless.
CBS reports that both Suri and Khalil were detained under an obscure provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that allows noncitizens to be deported if they're deemed a threat to U.S. foreign policy interests. Here's CBS legal reporter and attorney Katrina Kaufman.
Chapter 6: What are some recent high-profile detention cases?
It's such a broad law, potentially, the way they could interpret it, that international students on these campuses are now very scared. I know they're walking around with passports. They're worried about what could happen to them here because who knows who else will be deemed as adverse to U.S. foreign policy interests under this law.
Meanwhile, in Orange County, California, a couple who lived in the U.S. for 35 years was deported to Colombia. Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez were undocumented when they came to the U.S. in 1989 to escape drug violence. Their children say they followed all of the rules, they committed no crimes, and exhausted all legal avenues trying to become citizens.
They were arrested last month when they showed up for a routine appointment with immigration officials, who have confirmed the couple had no criminal history. Their daughter, Stephanie Gonzalez, told the Fox affiliate in Los Angeles that her parents' arrest is the opposite of what Trump said he would do on the campaign trail.
We heard them say that these mass deportations that were going to happen was going to be aimed at true criminals who've committed awful crimes. Thousands of innocent immigrants are getting arrested and are being treated like actual criminals, including my parents, who are good people.
In another instance, a Canadian actress and entrepreneur named Jasmine Mooney, who obtained a three-year work visa last spring, had it revoked after a visit back home to Canada in November. In early March, she tried to enter the U.S. through the Mexico border with her visa paperwork and a new job offer.
But Newsweek reports, since her name had already been flagged a few months prior, Customs and Border Protection officers didn't allow her to go back to Mexico. She was instead detained for almost two weeks. Mooney told CTV in Canada she was held in chains and slept on a mat at a detention center in Arizona.
I can't even process what just happened because there was no heads up. Next thing you know, I'm taken. And for two weeks, haven't been told anything, moved in different cells, sleeping on cement, sleeping in different jail cells. Like it just nothing makes sense to me. And I'm still trying to process the entire situation.
There's also a French scientist who was denied entry into the U.S. on March 9th. A minister in France's government told AFP that U.S. border officials found messages on the scientist's phone that were critical of President Trump. A diplomatic source told AFP the messages showed, quote, hatred toward Trump's policies, which they said could qualify as terrorism.
The acting commissioner of Customs and Border Patrol told USA Today any traveler entering the U.S. is subject to having their electronic devices searched. She said any claims that searches are politically motivated are, quote, completely unfounded. U.S. citizens can reject having their devices searched, but foreign nationals or people with visas do not have the same rights.
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