A week after the story first broke in The Atlantic, several top Trump Administration officials had discussed high-level military operations on Signal and accidentally invited a reporter. Attention is being paid to one particular moment in the chat, in which Vice President J.D. Vance appeared to disagree with the Trump Administration’s approach.
The “Houthi PC small group,” as published by The Atlantic, states before the air strikes that “I think we are making a mistake.”
“I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now,” Vance says in the chat. “There’s a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices. I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself. But there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc.”
JD Vance’s role in Signal chat angers senior Republican lawmakershttps://t.co/QSj6CMiwa6
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 30, 2025
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What Trump wanted, in terms of Yemen, carried the day and the air strike took place.
According to an NBC News report Monday, some senior Republican lawmakers are unhappy with Vance for “working against” Trump’s agenda, although none went on the record with their names.
“Capitol Hill Republicans still have their jaws on their floor with how actively the VP worked to try and undo a Trump decision,” a “Senior Republican official” told NBC News. “Thank goodness Miller stepped in and put him in his place.”
That source called the move “John Bolton-esque,” referring to the first-term foreign policy adviser who later broke with Trump.
“The president was not aware how inconsistent this is with his own messaging?,” another Republican on the Hill told NBC. “These are the president’s policies, and for JD Vance to question them like that is ridiculous. He is the commander in chief.”
It’s worth noting that Vance’s objection to the strike plan was part of an internal communication, the type of thing that isn’t supposed to see the light of day but was leaked due to carelessness. It wasn’t as though Vance said something critical of Trump’s Yemen plans in an on-the-record interview.
Also this weekend, Vance visited Greenland, where he met with U.S. troops at Pituffik Space Base and delivered a speech. The trip was adjusted from the previously announced version when Vance’s wife, Usha, was scheduled to visit and attend the national dogsled race.
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
