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The senior American officials, including the vice-president and defense secretary, accidentally shared classified details on last week’s military strikes on Yemen with a journalist in an unofficial messaging group, in an amazing security violation that triggered a tumult in Washington.
JD Vance and Pete Hegseth were one of the members of a group of signal cats who discussed the operational details of the most important military action taken by President Donald Trump since his return to the White House and exploded European Allies for “freeloading” on the United States.
The apparent security violation intervened after Jeffrey Goldberg, editor -in -chief of Atlantic magazine, was added to the cat by national security advisor Mike Waltz before Attacks last week On the Houthis, based in Yemen, the rebels after threatening to resume attacks against the Red Sea expedition.
THE Houthi Launched dozens of attacks on merchant ships and American navy ships in the Red Sea last year, saying that they were acting in solidarity with the Palestinians in response to the Israel offensive against Hamas in Gaza.
A messages – who expressed his disdain for the European allies and suggested asking them to pay the operation – was published on Monday.
The veracity of the cat was confirmed by the National Security Council. “Currently, the message thread that has been reported seems authentic, and we are examining how inadvertently has been added to the channel,” said NSC spokesperson Brian Hughes.
“The thread is a demonstration of deep and thoughtful political coordination between senior officials. The continuous success of Operation Houthi demonstrates that there was no threat to our soldiers or national security. ”
According to Goldberg, Vance suggested that the threat of the Houthis was more a European problem, because only a small fraction of the American trade crossed the Suez Canal. He expressed his concerns that the American attack was an “error” which risked a “peak of oil prices” while “bailout Europe”.
A number of group members have suggested that Europe could be invited to compensate for the United States for strikes. Waltz said he was working with ministries “to determine how to compile the associated costs and take them from Europeans”.
Another contributor, who seemed to be Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, suggested: “If the United States successfully restored the freedom of navigation at a high price, there must be an additional economic gain in return.”
Hegseth, a former Fox News host, wrote that he shared the “disgust for European freeload” of the vice-president.
Trump told journalists on Monday that he had “knew” the cat disclosed before attacking the point of sale that published the story. “I’m not a big fan of the Atlantic, for me, it’s a magazine that is celebrating. I think it’s not really a magazine.”
The messages sparked a storm of fire in the American capital, democratic politicians exploding the Trump administration for “incompetence”.
Jack Reed, the Senator of Rhode Island and the best democrat of the Armed Services Committee in the High Congress Chamber, said: “If it is true, this story represents one of the most flagrant failures of operational security and common sense that I have ever seen.”
JB Pritzker, the Illinois Democratic Governor, wrote on X: “The incompetence of the Trump administration endorses us in danger and abroad.”
In a rare case of criticism, republican politicians have also criticized the exchange. “Classified information should not be transmitted on unmarked channels – and certainly not to those who have no security authorization, including journalists.” Period, Mike Lawler, a member of the New York Republican Congress on Monday. “Guarantees must be put in place to ensure that this does not happen again.”
The EU’s superior diplomats said that Vance’s comments in particular reflected his deep animosity towards Europe, but that it was still shocking to see how much he hated American support for the continent and his interests.
“It is incredible to see how distorted his thought is [on the benefits of bombing Yemen]”Said an EU diplomat.
“It’s crazy,” said another. “Really incredible.”
