My mind was all in a tizzy yesterday as thoughts kept swirling around my head about how this chat fiaso could have happened. I went for my long walk and then tried to fine-tune my argument so I'm posting it here again, hoping someone with investigation authority will give it some thought and maybe do something to at least disprove my ide…
My mind was all in a tizzy yesterday as thoughts kept swirling around my head about how this chat fiaso could have happened. I went for my long walk and then tried to fine-tune my argument so I'm posting it here again, hoping someone with investigation authority will give it some thought and maybe do something to at least disprove my idea:
What if Trump asked his people to come up with a way to communicate without government oversight and Signal was the best thing they could come up with?
What if Trump always participated, but went by an alias, say “John Gold,” with initials JG?
Since he doesn't like to leave any fingerprints on illegal stuff, what if other people ran the agenda and asked questions with Trump's silence being the nod of approval for decisions?
What if, as a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg (also JG) had, at some point in time, contacted Waltz or someone else in the group, with questions for an Atlantic story, or verification of a quote, therefore ending up as a contact on those phones?
Would it be easy to have mixed up the two on a Signal chat invite, both with JG initials? Especially at 1:30 in the morning when people could understandably be groggy? Even if Trump had used his old “John Barron” alias from the old days, would it be easy to mix up JB and JG, especially since B and G are so close on the keyboard?
If that error was made, could it be possible that all 18 of them thought Trump was on the chat with them at the time of the bombing decisions and it was just business as usual?
It may sound crazy, but stranger things have happened.
It explains why nobody objected or sensed that a stranger was on the line.
It explains the oddity and disbelief we all felt at the idea of them seemingly making high-level decisions without Trump's okay (because, unbeknownst to us, they were all mistakenly under the impression that he WAS on the line, giving his silent approval).
It also explains the terror they are all feeling under scrutiny from Congress and the press as the whole scheme starts to unravel – including the fact that this was probably not a one-off, but may have been their mode of communication for months as they avoid reporting conversations to the National Archives as required by law.
It also explains Trump's “I know nothing” attitude as he tries to distance himself as far away as possible.
It actually makes sense that such a monumental national security breach would have a fantastical story behind it –what other explanation could possibly make sense?
At this point, all their phones, governmental and private, should be confiscated but we all know the Trump Justice Dept. will do nothing to investigate this fiasco. Congress must subpoena these chat participants, as well as their staff. Get them one-on-one into a SCIF and ask them pointed questions, framed by a good lawyer, and someone is bound to crack.
The least they should ask: Why were you using personal cell phones? Are you reporting all conversations to NARA? Do you ever contact Trump through a non-government issued alias? How often have you used Signal, or any other non-government secured app for communications?
Something fishy is going on here and there is far more to this story than meets the eye. Do not let them get away with an apology and admission of guilt for this particular goof-up, as some have suggested.
My mind was all in a tizzy yesterday as thoughts kept swirling around my head about how this chat fiaso could have happened. I went for my long walk and then tried to fine-tune my argument so I'm posting it here again, hoping someone with investigation authority will give it some thought and maybe do something to at least disprove my idea:
What if Trump asked his people to come up with a way to communicate without government oversight and Signal was the best thing they could come up with?
What if Trump always participated, but went by an alias, say “John Gold,” with initials JG?
Since he doesn't like to leave any fingerprints on illegal stuff, what if other people ran the agenda and asked questions with Trump's silence being the nod of approval for decisions?
What if, as a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg (also JG) had, at some point in time, contacted Waltz or someone else in the group, with questions for an Atlantic story, or verification of a quote, therefore ending up as a contact on those phones?
Would it be easy to have mixed up the two on a Signal chat invite, both with JG initials? Especially at 1:30 in the morning when people could understandably be groggy? Even if Trump had used his old “John Barron” alias from the old days, would it be easy to mix up JB and JG, especially since B and G are so close on the keyboard?
If that error was made, could it be possible that all 18 of them thought Trump was on the chat with them at the time of the bombing decisions and it was just business as usual?
It may sound crazy, but stranger things have happened.
It explains why nobody objected or sensed that a stranger was on the line.
It explains the oddity and disbelief we all felt at the idea of them seemingly making high-level decisions without Trump's okay (because, unbeknownst to us, they were all mistakenly under the impression that he WAS on the line, giving his silent approval).
It also explains the terror they are all feeling under scrutiny from Congress and the press as the whole scheme starts to unravel – including the fact that this was probably not a one-off, but may have been their mode of communication for months as they avoid reporting conversations to the National Archives as required by law.
It also explains Trump's “I know nothing” attitude as he tries to distance himself as far away as possible.
It actually makes sense that such a monumental national security breach would have a fantastical story behind it –what other explanation could possibly make sense?
At this point, all their phones, governmental and private, should be confiscated but we all know the Trump Justice Dept. will do nothing to investigate this fiasco. Congress must subpoena these chat participants, as well as their staff. Get them one-on-one into a SCIF and ask them pointed questions, framed by a good lawyer, and someone is bound to crack.
The least they should ask: Why were you using personal cell phones? Are you reporting all conversations to NARA? Do you ever contact Trump through a non-government issued alias? How often have you used Signal, or any other non-government secured app for communications?
Something fishy is going on here and there is far more to this story than meets the eye. Do not let them get away with an apology and admission of guilt for this particular goof-up, as some have suggested.