MAGA group-chat leak: ‘In the patriarchy, you can make an error this big and your job is safe’

By Michael Baggs (with Emily Maitlis & Jon Sopel)

Top members of the Trump administration accidentally added a journalist to a private group chat about bombing Houthis in Yemen. But will anyone involved face consequences for this “horrific” security breach?

Read time: 5 mins

In brief…

• A US journalist was added to a Republican group chat in which top members of Trump’s administration discussed bombing Islamist military Houthis in the Suez Canal, and made dismissive remarks about Europe.
• The News Agents say serious errors like this could have been predicted when Trump appointed a team where many people had no experience of working in government.
• Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel don’t believe there will be any repercussions for those in the chat, as that is simply not how the Trump administration works.

What's the story?

"I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC."

These are the words of US secretary of defence Pete Hegseth, written in a Signal group chat of 10 or more top members of the Donald Trump administration – and a seemingly-accidentally added journalist,  in which they discussed the bombing of the Yemen-based Houthi rebels in the Suez Canal.

If nothing else, at least we now know what the Trump administration really thinks about Europe and that apparent 'special relationship' we hear so much about in the UK.

Other members of the group-chat include JD Vance, Marco Rubio, Tulsi Hubbard, Mike Waltz, Steve Witkoff, Stephen Miller, Susan Wiles and more.

Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic, was also included – somehow.

In the group, the MAGA Republicans discussed reasons for and against launching an assault on the Houthis, and why it might benefit European countries – which make more use of the Suez Canal for trading than the US – ahead of the US.

"I just hate bailing out Europe again," Vice President Vance told the group.

Houthis have been firing on international ships in the Suez Canal – which connects the Mediterranean and Red Sea, and is one of the world's key shipping channels –

In his The Atlantic article exposing the grave error, Goldberg explained that he was unsure if it was a joke or a set-up. But the bombing that was being discussed in the group chat became a reality two hours after they were discussed.

Emily Maitlis says this sort of incident could have been predicted by the type of people Trump appointed to his administration – TV hosts, property business men and executives from WWE.

"Who would ever have foreseen that taking a former weekend Fox and Friends anchor and making him into the defence secretary could end up this way – what a surprise," she says.

"You cannot get over this whole concept that the people who are planning America's strategic interests in the world now are just bumbling along in a group, chatting to each other with emojis."

“Has there ever been a f**k up like this one?” Jon Sopel asks.

Will jobs be lost over Trump team's group chat leak?

How have the Republicans responded?

The White House has confirmed that the journalist had been added to the group, but Trump – and those involved – have pleaded ignorance over the entire debacle.

President Trump has said he knew nothing about the group chat, or the article which detailed everything Goldberg claims to have witnessed in it.

“I don’t know anything about it, I’m not a big fan of The Atlantic," he told reporters.

"To me it’s a magazine that’s going out of business – but I know nothing about it."

Hegseth took a similar line, accusing Goldberg of being a "deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who has made a profession of peddling hoaxes."

He also told reporters that "nobody was texting war plans" in the group.

Jon says Hegseth's comments were not a defence made to appeal to the US people – but an appeal to his boss, and made to make sure he keeps his job.

"Pete Hegseth's words are not for the American public – they are for one man sitting in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue," he says.

"He's talking about the Russia 'hoax', talking about all the things that Donald Trump would want to hear.

"Pete Hegseth, realistically, should be fighting for his political career right now, but the way he's framed it is that he's standing up for Donald, showing absolute loyalty to the king, and that might just save his skin."

Emily says the only person in the group chat who made any effort to keep the information secure was Goldberg, who has withheld the most secure details shared since they landed in his phone.

“He's the one who keeps on redacting people's names or taking out bits of detail because he doesn't want to get the armed forces into serious trouble,” she says.

“None of the others on that group seem to be at all aware that their information could be compromised. It's horrific.”

What’s The News Agents’ take?

Under any other administration, this would be a national scandal, with firings or resignations likely, but under Trump 2:0, The News Agents doubt anything will change within the president’s top team.

“I think Mike Waltz is the person who is most in the firing line – but why would Trump fire somebody for an error?” Emily says.

Waltz is reportedly the person who added Goldberg to the Signal group chat.

“That's not what gets you fired in Trumpland. The thing that gets you fired in Trumpland is disloyalty.

“He doesn't really mind people f**king up, and if their heads are called-for by Democrats or liberals, then it probably cements them even more firmly in his favour.”

She says Trump needs to recognise there has been a “f**k up at the heart of his administration” – but admits this is unlikely.

“It's good to know that in the patriarchy, you can make that big an error and your job is still safe,” she says.

Jon adds: “I'm sure they’d have been just as understanding about Hillary Clinton's emails, and wouldn't have made any fuss about that.”

Listen to the latest episode of The News Agents.

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