Friday Insights-Liar, Liar, Liar
March 28, 2025
The Trump administration doubled down on the mistake of holding a group text chat on Signal this week, on which war plans were shared in full detail, and then lying about it. As a result, Democratic Congressional leaders are calling for heads. Will President Trump fire anyone?
As a lawyer for many years in Washington, I dealt with a number of serious issues, but my firm was never involved with airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen. My conference calls and text exchanges were minor league (very minor league) in comparison. But I never invited a reporter to join the call, even by mistake. And when calls began, we asked everyone to identify themselves.
Maybe someone on one of my calls lied and failed to identify themselves, but if they did, I never heard about it. Had my firm learned of such a security breach, we would have ceased client representation or taken other appropriate action. If someone on my staff had made the mistake, they would have faced discipline.
President Trump claims he was unaware of the group text chat. I believe that. He could have called for an investigation and reprimanded whoever was responsible. Instead, it appears that someone at the White House directed the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and others to lie.
Amazingly, after The Atlantic reported that its editor had been mistakenly invited onto the group text chat, Trump administration personnel at a Senate hearing lied about the call. They told Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), and others that their war plans were not discussed on the call.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration’s lie was exposed—one of the biggest since Inauguration Day. Here is part of the transcript of the chat:
“1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)”
“1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s)”
“1410: More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package)”
“1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ‘Trigger Based’ targets)”
“1536 F-18 2nd Strike Starts – also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched.”
“MORE TO FOLLOW (per timeline)”
“We are currently clean on OPSEC” — that is, operational security.
“Godspeed to our Warriors.”
Let’s call Ms. Gabbard, Mr. Waltz, and the other liars the “Trump Liars.” They should all be fired. Will they be fired? Doubtful.
Were any laws broken in the breach? That question might be appropriately directed to the Attorney General, but it won’t be. Ms. Bondi indicated the Justice Department “likely” would not investigate.
Compensation for Trump’s J6 Patriots.
What was President Trump thinking about as news of the war plans security breach broke? We will never know, but it appears the President was again thinking about the “heroes” who tried to overthrow the government on January 6, 2021, on his behalf.
On Newsmax on Tuesday evening, Trump said he was considering compensation for the January 6 insurrectionists and told listeners that “a lot of people in government really like them.” Will Trump propose compensation for them? Or order the Department of the Treasury to issue checks to each of them? Stay tuned.
Another day, another law firm.
President Trump is not done “addressing” the “risks” created by major law firms in representing their clients. This time, it is the firm of Jenner & Block.
Trump targeted the firm for a list of misdeeds, including,” obvious partisan representations to achieve political ends,” supporting “attacks against women and children based on a refusal to accept the biological reality of sex, obstructing “efforts to prevent illegal aliens from committing horrific crimes and trafficking deadly drugs within our borders.”
The firm rehired Andrew Weissmann, now a legal analyst with MSNBC, after Weissmann worked on “Robert Mueller’s entirely unjustified investigation,” often referred to by Trump as the “Russia, Russia, Russia hoax.”
Auto tariffs.
I hope you’re not planning to buy a car later this year because prices are going up on almost all vehicles. The exception is Tesla, and you know the reason why. However, even owning a Tesla will become more costly. If you buy one of Elon Musk’s cars, you will need to hire a guard to prevent vandalism. Likely, your total costs will exceed those of other makes.
More seriously, the tariffs are bad news for American consumers. Trump knows it. That is why, the Wall Street Journal reports, Trump convened a meeting with auto executives earlier this month and threatened them not to raise prices. Trump told the executives that the White House would “look unfavorably” on increased prices.
It is unclear whether Elon Musk represented Tesla at the meeting or if Tesla was included in the group. Tesla has its government relations function “running on all cylinders,” which is ironic because Teslas don’t have cylinders.
MS-13.
Just in time to remove Signalgate from the front page of America’s newspapers, A top leader of MS-13 was arrested in Virginia. I learned about it when checking Truth Social for the latest on what the president is up to. The first four posts were the president congratulating his team—and himself—for the arrest.
Don’t get me wrong—who isn’t glad when a gang leader is arrested? I do not doubt that the timing of the arrest was simply good luck. I also don’t think it is time to put Signalgate in the past.
Trump fatigue.
Friends are telling me they are tired of “every” conversation being about Trump or one of his world-class appointees, especially the Secretary of Defense. My friends suffer from Trump fatigue, as do I.
I am looking for some Trump-related news that might be good news—something other than mass firings at HHS, the Secretary of HHS recommending Cod Liver Oil to prevent measles, or VP Vance going to Greenland to “check things out.”
Vance and his wife will visit Pituffik Space Force Base, formerly named Thule Air Base. I worked there as a janitor many years ago as part of a contractor’s summer jobs program for college students. I can tell you it will be very cold when the Vances arrive. It would have been very cold everywhere else, and with everyone else they meet in Greenland, other than other Americans in their party, but the Vances’ visit is apparently limited to the military base because Greenland declined to extend a formal invitation for them to visit.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading today’s Friday Insights. I may have more thoughts on Sunday. Likely.
The Administration defense in part, is that the mission was a success. How do we know that? The administration lies about everything. The shipping lanes are still being attacked. Reporters need to challenge the mission success, asking for proof.