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Published March 25, 2025last updated March 25, 2025President Trump and his White House are working to quell discussion about a major security breach made by “reckless” national security leaders as Democrats call for investigations and resignations. DW has the latest.
https://p.dw.com/p/4sG6x
Donald Trump (right) says National Security Advisor Michael Waltz (left) is ‘a good guy’ who ‘learned a lesson’ by initiating a major security breachImage: Kevin Lamarque/REUTERSSkip next section What you need to knowWhat you need to knowWashington is abuzz in the wake of revelations that top US national security, intelligence and defense leaders unwittingly shared secret military plans with a US journalist.
The White House and President Trump have deflected criticism toward the journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic, attempting to smear his reputation.
Trump has said there will be no consequences for any of those involved in the incident, which he called “a glitch.”
Meanwhile, Trump said he would “love” to see funding end for US public broadcasters NPR and PBS.
Here’s the latest on US President Donald Trump’s administration for March 25, 2025:
Skip next section Trump continues anti-media crusade, says he’d ‘love’ to defund public broadcastingMarch 25, 2025
Trump continues anti-media crusade, says he’d ‘love’ to defund public broadcastingTrump took aim at more media outlets Tuesday, saying he wants to cut funding for US public broadcasters PBS and NPR.
Trump labeled Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Broadcasting, which give airtime in a bipartisan fashion, “very unfair.”
PBS and NPR, founded in 1969 and 1970 respectively, are partially funded with taxpayer dollars but raise most of their money from member station dues, corporate and private underwriting and viewer/listener contributions.
Both PBS and NPR operate independently and have full control of their content and reporting. Both organizations produce cultural and news programming.
Europeans worried over Trump’s cuts to public broadcastersTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Though PBS is known for educational programs such as “Sesame Street,” it gained a wide national audience in 1973, when it broadcast “gavel-to-gavel” coverage of the US Senate’s Watergate hearings.
For the past 20 years, PBS has consistently ranked as the most trustworthy news outlet in the US, with respondents saying that only tax dollars spent on the military or the oversight of food and drug safety provide more value.
PBS and NPR are expected to come under review by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency this week and the leaders of both operations will be on Capitol Hill on Wednesday for a House of Representatives hearing organized by Republican Trump loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
https://p.dw.com/p/4sGG3
Skip next section Democrats probe Trump security officials in heated Senate hearingMarch 25, 2025
Democrats probe Trump security officials in heated Senate hearingAs the White House scoffed at news of a high-level security breach, calling it a “coordinated effort to distract from the successful actions taken by President Trump and his administration to make America’s enemies pay and keep Americans safe,” some of the Trump administration’s top national security bosses testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, where they faced questioning from Democratic lawmakers over a recent intelligence leak during a hearing originally designated for discussion of global threats facing the US.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, for instance, attempted to deflect criticism of the use of Signal, an encrypted commercial messaging app, for discussing sensitive subjects related to national security rather than using the secure communications systems available to them.
Both Gabbard and Ratcliffe claimed that no classified material had been discussed — something that would seem to fly in the face of journalist Jeffrey Goldberg’s account of the incident.
Independent Maine Senator Angus King told the two, “It’s hard for me to believe that targets and timing and weapons would not have been classified.”
Goldberg said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had texted very specific tactical information about, “targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing.”
Though experts like iVerify’s Rocky Cole, who is specialized in protecting smartphone users against hackers, says Signal has a “stellar reputation,” he adds: “The risk of discussing highly sensitive national security information on Signal isn’t so much that Signal itself is insecure. It’s the fact that nation states threat actors have a demonstrated ability to remotely compromise the entire mobile phone itself. If the phone itself isn’t secure, all the Signal messages on that device can be read.”
Trump orders strikes on Houthi rebels in YemenTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Beyond the vice president and the numerous heads of defense and intelligence agencies, Trump’s envoy to Ukraine and the Middle East, Steve Witkoff was also actively engaged in the chat — while he was in Moscow, meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Though Republicans — who for years ranted about then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s treatment of sensitive information and her use of personal servers for communications — gave those testifying before the committee a pass on the incident, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, for one, said, “I’m of the view that there ought to be resignations.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4sG9H
Skip next section Trump stands by National Security Advisor Mike WaltzMarch 25, 2025
Trump stands by National Security Advisor Mike WaltzUS President Donald Trump gave a vote of confidence to National Security Advisor Michael Waltz on Tuesday in the wake of a security breach that has made sizable waves in DC.
Trump, who appeared to be caught flat-footed Monday when he learned about the incident during a press conference, defended Waltz on Tuesday, blaming a subordinate for inviting Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, to join a group chat in which secret military plans were discussed prior to an attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Trump downplayed the security lapse as an insignificant “glitch.” He then voiced backing for Waltz, saying he “learned a lesson” and calling him “a good man” in a Tuesday morning interview with NBC news. Later Trump told Fox News of Waltz, “He’s not getting fired,” adding that “nothing important” was discussed in the chat.
Goldberg meanwhile has been maligned as “peddling garbage” by Hegseth, who claimed “nobody was sending war plans” — a statement that Goldberg called “a lie” — and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who claimed without substantiating evidence, that the journalist is, “well-known for his sensationalist spin.”
Goldberg said the chat contained not only discussions of military tactics but also political messaging.
The veracity of the group and its chat — which Goldberg initially suspected of being a ruse or a misinformation campaign designed to trap him into false reporting — was confirmed on Monday by National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes.
Report: US officials texted journalist war plansTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the leak, which Goldberg described as “shockingly reckless,” an exhibition of “amateur behavior.”
“This kind of security breach is how people get killed,” wrote Schumer on X. “How our enemies take advantage. How our national security falls into danger.”
The National Security Council took a rosier view of the situation. In a statement about the incident, the NSC portrayed the thread as, “a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our service members or our national security.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4sG7z
Skip next section Welcome to our coverageMarch 25, 2025
Welcome to our coverageJon Shelton | Wesley Dockery
This blog will focus on the latest regarding the Trump administration’s leak of military strategy towards Yemen to a US journalist via the app Signal.
Our coverage will also cover the latest regarding other aspects of the Trump White House, such as ongoing cuts by the US Department of Government Efficiency led by billionaire Elon Musk.
https://p.dw.com/p/4sGEH
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