With the world economy in turmoil after the Trump Administration’s recent imposition of widespread tariffs, another story that is damaging to the Administration, Signalgate, has been knocked out of the headlines. Before that, the news that several top Trump Administration officials had discussed high-level war plans on a Signal chat and accidentally added reporter Jeffrey Goldberg to it was the most prominent political story in the country for over a week.
Trump’s press secretary declared the matter “closed ” on Monday, although that appeared to be wishful thinking. On Thursday, amid the tariff turmoil, it was reported that the Pentagon’s acting inspector general had opened an investigation into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s conduct in the Signalgate matter. Hegseth shared very specific attack plans on the Signal chat, which Goldberg published in a follow-up story two days after the original one.
Pentagon inspector general opens investigation into Hegseth, Signal chat scandal https://t.co/Se73qQeGeq
— Tina MF (@TinaMF1) April 3, 2025
The two leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Republican Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Democratic Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-RI) had asked for such a probe, to look into what the Senators called “use of unclassified networks to discuss sensitive and classified information, as well as the sharing of such information with those who do not have proper clearance and need to know.”
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“In addition to looking at whether Hegseth complied with rules governing classified information, the inspector general will also look at whether rules about record retention were followed,” NBC News reported about the IG probe.
Reporter: On Pete Hegseth and the IG investigation, do you want to comment on that? On the Signal app
Trump: Don’t bring that up again pic.twitter.com/QAiUXJiXof
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 3, 2025
After this, the president was asked about the matter and didn’t appear happy.
“Don’t bring that up again,” Trump said when asked by a reporter on Air Force One, as reported by The Daily Beast.
“You’re bringing that up?” Trump said. “Don’t bring that up again. Your editor is probably—that’s such a wasted story. So what else?”
On Truth Social last weekend, Trump declared that the Signal story was “so old and boring, but only used because we are having the most successful “First One Hundred Presidential Days” in the history of America, and they can’t find anything else to talk about.”
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
