Europeans “are parasites”. After the scandal of the Signal chat with the Pentagon’s plans for the attack in Yemen, mistakenly shared with the director of the Atlantic magazine and become public knowledge, Donald Trump does not apologize but relaunches the accusations of his deputy J.D. Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth against Europe that emerged from the top secret chat.
The exchange between the representatives of the US administration shows all the contempt against the Old Continent. “I can’t stand having to save Europe again”, Vance writes about a US raid against the Houthis. “I fully share your hatred for the European parasite, it’s pathetic,” Hegseth replied. And to make matters worse, the US president himself commented: “I agree, they are parasites (the Europeans, ed). They have been for years, but we don’t blame them, we blame Biden,” Trump said, referring to trade and tariffs.
As for the leak due to the “mistaken” inclusion of journalist Jeffrey Goldberg in the chat by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Trump downplays it, saying Waltz “probably” won’t use it again and that no classified information was leaked anyway: the attack on the Houthis was a great success. “The only hiccup in two months, and it turned out to be no big deal,” Trump told Nbcnews, reiterating his confidence in his national security team and repeating that the presence of a journalist in the chat “had no impact whatsoever” on the military operation.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt had anticipated on X that “no war plans were discussed, no classified material was posted in the chat.” “Goldberg is well known for his sensationalism,” Leavitt said, presenting what she calls “the facts.” Regarding the use of Signal, the spokeswoman explained that the White House legal office “has provided a list of different platforms on which senior officials of President Trump can communicate as securely and efficiently as possible.”
However, CIA Director John Ratcliffe called the inclusion of a journalist in a Signal group chat among Trump administration officials discussing war plans “obviously inappropriate.” Ratcliffe’s comment came at the height of a tense exchange with Democratic Senator Michael Bennet during the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, during which the Colorado senator pressed him on CIA rules regarding the handling of classified information and whether those rules were followed in the Signal chat reported by The Atlantic. “Does the CIA have rules about handling classified information? Yes or no?” Bennet asked, getting an affirmative answer.
