| | | |  | | By Garrett Ross | Presented by the National Retail Federation | | 
The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg published the Signal group chat logs that have lit Washington on fire in recent days. | Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | Call it the group chat that keeps on giving. Signalgate shows no signs of spinning out of the news cycle as new details emerge about the Signal group chat in which top-level Trump administration officials discussed a plan to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen — unwittingly in the presence of The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, who was added apparently inadvertently by national security adviser Michael Waltz. Days of denials and downplaying from the administration dared Goldberg to disclose the full details of the chat. Every Trump official involved claimed there was no classified material discussed. While the right sought to denigrate Goldberg — a favorite target of President Donald Trump — the left prodded the publication to release the texts. After some hemming and hawing about whether that was the right course of action, Goldberg and The Atlantic published a piece this morning that included screenshots of the chat. WAR OF WORDS: Trump officials defended the chat in recent days by insisting that what was unwittingly discussed in Goldberg’s presence did not amount to war plans. (Interestingly, The Atlantic’s piece this morning used the term “Attack Plans” — a fact that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and the DOD comms shop were eager to point out.) Whichever term you find appropriate, the level of detail for a group chat taking place on an unofficial government platform is remarkable. Jaw-dropping. Astounding. Choose your own word, if you’d like. Take, for example, one of the group chat messages from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — who vehemently denies that any classified intel was included — ticking through a detailed timeline for the upcoming strike, with one line noting: “THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP.” HOW IT’S PLAYING: The question on everyone’s mind the past few days has been: Were Hegseth’s messages outlining the sequencing of the attack classified or not? Well, current and former Pentagon officials tell POLITICO’s Paul McLeary and Jack Detsch that the messages “almost certainly contained classified information.”
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Democrats plastered messages from the group chat onto posters for a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday morning. | Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images | Nebraska GOP Rep. Don Bacon agrees, with firm words for the admin. “The White House is in denial that this was not classified or sensitive data,” Bacon, a former Air Force brigadier general and member of the House Armed Services Committee, said this morning. “They should just own up to it and preserve credibility.” Landing like a bomb: Officials and allies within the administration are “concerned, angry and confused” over the official response to the episode, POLITICO’s Dasha Burns reports. Here’s a taste of thefurious reactions Dasha collected: — On the strategy to paint the reporting as a hoax: “stupid,” adding that the White House should “own it, fire Waltz, move on.” — On Waltz’s claim that he doesn’t know how Goldberg’s number was in his phone: “bullshit and he risks somebody else calling bullshit on it. Like if anybody has ever seen them talking or if Goldberg has other texts.” — On Waltz’s invitation for Elon Musk to help figure out what happened: “Well, Waltz just opened the door for the FBI to investigate the compromise of his text chain.” Outside the administration: While there’s plenty of public reaction pinging around, two from prominent conservative figures are worth paying attention to. — Conservative media star Tomi Lahren: “Trying to wordsmith the hell outta this signal debacle is making it worse,” Lahren wrote in a post on X. “And I’m honestly getting sick of the whatabout isms from my own side. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Admit the F up and move on.” — Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy: “Somebody has to go down,” he said in a lengthy video posted to his X account. “Michael Waltz … you have to lose your job. You have to step down.” Will this chorus grow louder as the day goes on? BECAUSE, OF COURSE: The lawsuit alleging that the group chat participants violated federal record-keeping laws was assigned this morning to none other than U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who has drawn Trump’s ire after blocking the deportation of Venezuelan nationals. More on the legal twist of fate from POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney WHAT THEY’RE SAYING: In an interesting moment during a House Intelligence Committee hearing this morning, DNI Tulsi Gabbard (“TG” in the Signal chat) indicated that the “release of the screenshots that came from that chat group today were a refresher on what happened.” Watch the video A whole new can of worms: Gabbard also testified that Signal comes “pre-installed” on government devices, which would mark “a potentially major shift in official communications on the heels of a massive Chinese government-linked hack of U.S. telecommunications networks last year,” POLITICO’s Maggie Miller writes. The comment will likely spike concerns among lawmakers about the security of sensitive information sharing within the government. CAN’T GET ENOUGH? Dasha, POLITICO’s White House ace, joined Jack to discuss everything Signalgate on Playbook’s Daily Briefing. Watch the full conversation here Good Wednesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at gross@politico.com.
| | | | A message from the National Retail Federation: NRF supports plans by the administration and Congress to expand the American economy through tax reform, deregulation and new sources of affordable energy. But trade policy issues are creating uncertainty and causing consumers to hold back on spending. High tariffs on imported goods will raise the price of products and slow economic growth. We need trade policies that protect American families, workers and small businesses. Tariffs should always be strategic and a tool of last resort. Learn more. | | | | | | 8 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | 1. NEW DEADLINE DROPPED: Congressional GOP leaders may now have a deadline for enacting their partisan tax, border security and energy package, courtesy of the Congressional Budget Office. The nonpartisan scorekeeper said in a report released this morning that the U.S. is likely to breach its debt limit in August or September, though it also warned that the so-called X date could creep up as early as late May or June if tax receipts fall below predictions, POLITICO’s Jennifer Scholtes reports. That adds pressure for Republicans who want to include a debt limit hike in the “big, beautiful bill” they’re trying to push through on party lines. 2. SCOTUS WATCH: The Supreme Court this morning upheld the federal ban on so-called ghost guns on a 7-2 split, POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein writes. Four conservative justices and the three liberals backed the authority of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to regulate and ban the untraceable weapons easily assembled from kits often purchased online. “Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, said the regulations were permitted under the Gun Control Act of 1968. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.” 3. ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK: The Trump administration is canceling “financial support for Gavi, the organization that has helped purchase critical vaccines for children in developing countries” and plans “to significantly scale back support for efforts to combat malaria, one of the biggest killers globally,” NYT’s Stephanie Nolen reports, noting that the White House will “continue some key grants for medications to treat H.I.V. and tuberculosis, and food aid to countries facing civil wars and natural disasters.” Digging in: “Those decisions are included in a 281-page spreadsheet that the United States Agency for International Development sent to Congress Monday night, listing the foreign aid projects it plans to continue and to terminate” that was obtained by the Times and which “provide a sweeping overview of the extraordinary scale of the administration’s retreat from a half-century-long effort to present the United States to the developing world as a compassionate ally and to lead the fight against infectious diseases that kill millions of people annually.” 4. FOR YOUR RADAR: Immigration officers “detained a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University, adding to the list of international students targeted by the Trump administration,” WSJ’s Alyssa Lukpat reports. “Rumeysa Ozturk, a Ph.D. student, was taken into custody Tuesday night outside her off-campus apartment building in Somerville, Mass., according to Tufts and court records. She was on her way to meet friends and break her fast for Ramadan when she was detained, her lawyer said. The government hasn’t filed any charges against Ozturk, who was in the U.S. on a student visa, said the lawyer, Mahsa Khanbabai.”
| | | | Cut through policy complexity and turn intelligence into action with POLITICO’s Policy Intelligence Assistant—a new suite of tools designed to save you time and demonstrate your impact more easily than ever—available only to Pro subscribers. Save hours, uncover critical insights instantly, and stay ahead of the next big shift. Power your strategy today—learn more. | | | | | 5. KNOWING ‘BIG BALLS’: Edward Coristine, a DOGE staffer who has become well-known for both his age (19) and his, ahem, colorful online persona, at one time “provided support to a cybercrime gang that bragged about trafficking in stolen data and cyberstalking an FBI agent,” Reuters’ Raphael Satter reports. The details: “Beginning around 2022, while still in high school, Coristine ran a company called DiamondCDN that provided network services,” including for a ring of cybercriminals called “EGodly,” which in 2023 “boasted on its Telegram channel of hijacking phone numbers, breaking into unspecified law enforcement email accounts in Latin America and Eastern Europe, and cryptocurrency theft. Early that year, the group distributed the personal details of an FBI agent who they said was investigating them, circulating his phone number, photographs of his house, and other private details on Telegram.” 6. THE ATKINS DIET: “Trump’s SEC pick draws concern from the left,” by POLITICO’s Declan Harty: Paul Atkins “is viewed across the political spectrum as a highly qualified choice for chair and is likely to be approved by the Senate. But his work advising the financial world over the decade and a half since he left the agency after serving as a commissioner is stirring concern on the left that he’ll be overseeing many of his one-time clients as he seeks to undo the sweeping legacy of former SEC Chair Gary Gensler. … Incoming SEC chairs often hail from financial companies or law firms and face questions about potential conflicts. But Atkins’ ties to Wall Street are far from ordinary, critics say.” 7. THE FINE FRET: Florida state Sen. Randy Fine and progressive Josh Weil are facing off in a special election for the seat vacated by Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser. Though the district is deep-red — it went for Trump by 30-plus points — math teacher Weil has amassed an eight-figure war chest that has some Republicans sweating in the Florida heat, POLITICO’s Kimberly Leonard reports. “Since early voting began Saturday, turnout was surprisingly close between the two parties, though Republicans began to edge up in numbers on Tuesday, according to Decision Desk HQ data. … Republicans projected confidence that Fine will win, but the disparity in fundraising has the GOP sending reinforcements during the closing days of the campaign.” 8. DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS: “Trump Takes Tough Approach to Choking Off China’s Access to U.S. Tech,” by WSJ’s Liza Lin: “The U.S. on Tuesday added dozens of Chinese companies to a trade blacklist over national security concerns. American businesses seeking to sell technology to these companies will need approval from the government. … The move is the clearest signal yet that the Trump administration intends to further limit what kind of American technology Chinese companies can buy, despite complaints from Silicon Valley companies, including Nvidia, that former President Joe Biden already went too far.”
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Trade policy impacts businesses and consumers. Register to learn more. | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Wall Street Journal EIC Emma Tucker asked for a profile of Oliver Darcy and his new media venture to be “completely desurfaced” from the publication, Breaker’s Lachlan Cartwright and Ravi Somaiya report. Rupert Murdoch has been critical of Darcy’s reporting on Fox, per Breaker. MEDIA MOVE — Sarah Owermohle is now a health policy and politics reporter at CNN. She previously was a Washington correspondent reporting on health care at STAT and is a POLITICO alum. TRANSITIONS — Crossroads Strategies is adding Jackson Stuteville and Stephen Voljavec as SVPs, and elevating Scott Brenner, Jason Gleason, Brittany Hernandez, Chris Miller and Marc Numedahl to principals. Stuteville previously was a congressional liaison for the assistant secretary of Defense for mission capabilities. Voljavec previously was legislative director for Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.). … Wendy Hamilton is now director of federal government affairs at Walmart. She previously was director of operations for House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.). … Brandon Figg is joining Morgan Lewis as a partner in the firm’s structured transactions practice in the D.C. office. He most recently was senior special counsel for the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our deputy editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | |
