WAR CRIME
Signal Chat Caught Trump Officials Cheering Destruction Of Entire Building To Kill 1 Man
S.V. Date
Wed, March 26, 2025
Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe (L) testifies during an annual worldwide threats assessment hearing at the Longworth House Office Building on March 26, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s top national security officials Wednesday defended their use of an unsecure messaging app to share details of a military strike on Yemen — as well as their cheers for the destruction of an entire building in their efforts to kill a single suspected Houthi terrorist.
“Building collapsed,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote shortly after the March 15 air strikes began in a group chat on Signal that inadvertently included a journalist. “The first target – their top missile guy – we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and now it’s collapsed.”
“Excellent,” Vice President JD Vance wrote in response.
National security adviser Mike Waltz, who had invited Atlantic editor and longtime national security reporter Jeffrey Goldberg to the group chat days earlier, responded with emojis of a fist, an American flag and a flame.
It’s unclear how big the building destroyed in the effort to kill a single targeted terrorist was, or how many civilians were killed and injured in that particular strike. Neither the White House nor the Department of Defense responded to HuffPost queries on the matter.
Houthi leaders claimed that 53 people, including five children, were killed in the air strikes, which included missiles from Navy fighter planes, sea-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles and armed drones.
A top national security official from the preceding Joe Biden administration said that avoiding civilian deaths and injuries was always a factor when deciding whether to conduct military strikes against the Iran-backed Houthis as well as other targets.
“It was always a consideration. Always,” the former official said on condition of anonymity. “And we would not take a strike if the possibility of civcas [civilian casualties] could not be mitigated.”
Beyond the ethical issue of killing uninvolved civilians, Biden officials frequently argued, was the pragmatic one: Killing and injuring non-combatants creates hostility toward the United States and leads to the recruitment of even more terrorists within a short period of time.
The Biden official also said that, contrary to Trump administration claims, the new operations are basically the same strikes against the same set of targets. Trump administration officials have claimed their new effort was a dramatic change from what took place under the Biden administration and would result in the end of attacks on shipping lanes in the Red Sea.
“No substantive difference,” the official said. “We hit military targets, weapons caches, launch sites, radar. The whole apparatus was put in place under our watch.”
The March 15 strikes have not had any noticeable effect on bringing shipping traffic back through the Red Sea, and experts believe it would take months or even longer for that to happen.
Trump and his aides, nevertheless, continued to claim Wednesday that their actions, unlike those under Biden, have been a tremendous success. “They have been hit harder than they’ve ever been hit,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “The attacks have been very successful even beyond our wildest expectations.”
“Our ongoing campaign against the Houthis has been devastatingly effective,” Hegseth told reporters at an event in Hawaii.
Neither Hegseth nor others, though, would answer basic questions about the group chat, including why Signal was used despite specific guidance from the intelligence community that it be avoided for nonpublic information.
The Atlantic on Wednesday released screenshots of the entire chat — with the exception of the name of a CIA officer who participated — after Trump and advisers repeatedly claimed Tuesday that no “war plans” were shared nor was any classified information revealed. Those screenshots showed that Hegseth at first gave the 16 other Trump officials on the chat (and Goldberg) a detailed timeline of the impending attack, including which planes would be used and what time they would launch from an aircraft carrier.
He then gave details on how the attack was going in real time — including information about the targeted suspected terrorist that provided hints as to how that intelligence was gathered. Further, had the timeline been available to Houthi fighters when it was made available to Goldberg, it could have endangered the lives of the air crews taking part in the raid.
Trump officials across the administration refused to answer HuffPost queries on what sorts of devices — computers versus phones; government-issued versus personal — the various participants had used to log onto the Signal chat. CIA Director John Ratcliffe testified in the Senate on Tuesday that Signal was loaded onto his work computer, but he did not say how he participated in the group chat.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Wednesday testified to House members that Signal comes “pre-installed” on government devices — which, if correct, represents a completely new policy. The app had been prohibited on government devices under the Biden administration.
Trump aide Steve Witkoff may have shed some light on the device issue Wednesday when he posted on social media that the only device he took with him on a trip to Russia two weeks ago was one issued by the U.S. government, which was the reason he did not participate in the group chat as the military strikes were taking place. “Guess why? Because I had no access to my personal devices until I returned from my trip,” he wrote, suggesting that when he finally did join the chat after the raid ended — he texted emoji of two sets of praying hands, a flexed bicep and two American flags — it was from his personal phone.
S.V. Date
Wed, March 26, 2025
Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe (L) testifies during an annual worldwide threats assessment hearing at the Longworth House Office Building on March 26, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s top national security officials Wednesday defended their use of an unsecure messaging app to share details of a military strike on Yemen — as well as their cheers for the destruction of an entire building in their efforts to kill a single suspected Houthi terrorist.
“Building collapsed,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote shortly after the March 15 air strikes began in a group chat on Signal that inadvertently included a journalist. “The first target – their top missile guy – we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and now it’s collapsed.”
“Excellent,” Vice President JD Vance wrote in response.
National security adviser Mike Waltz, who had invited Atlantic editor and longtime national security reporter Jeffrey Goldberg to the group chat days earlier, responded with emojis of a fist, an American flag and a flame.
It’s unclear how big the building destroyed in the effort to kill a single targeted terrorist was, or how many civilians were killed and injured in that particular strike. Neither the White House nor the Department of Defense responded to HuffPost queries on the matter.
Houthi leaders claimed that 53 people, including five children, were killed in the air strikes, which included missiles from Navy fighter planes, sea-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles and armed drones.
A top national security official from the preceding Joe Biden administration said that avoiding civilian deaths and injuries was always a factor when deciding whether to conduct military strikes against the Iran-backed Houthis as well as other targets.
“It was always a consideration. Always,” the former official said on condition of anonymity. “And we would not take a strike if the possibility of civcas [civilian casualties] could not be mitigated.”
Beyond the ethical issue of killing uninvolved civilians, Biden officials frequently argued, was the pragmatic one: Killing and injuring non-combatants creates hostility toward the United States and leads to the recruitment of even more terrorists within a short period of time.
The Biden official also said that, contrary to Trump administration claims, the new operations are basically the same strikes against the same set of targets. Trump administration officials have claimed their new effort was a dramatic change from what took place under the Biden administration and would result in the end of attacks on shipping lanes in the Red Sea.
“No substantive difference,” the official said. “We hit military targets, weapons caches, launch sites, radar. The whole apparatus was put in place under our watch.”
The March 15 strikes have not had any noticeable effect on bringing shipping traffic back through the Red Sea, and experts believe it would take months or even longer for that to happen.
Trump and his aides, nevertheless, continued to claim Wednesday that their actions, unlike those under Biden, have been a tremendous success. “They have been hit harder than they’ve ever been hit,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “The attacks have been very successful even beyond our wildest expectations.”
“Our ongoing campaign against the Houthis has been devastatingly effective,” Hegseth told reporters at an event in Hawaii.
Neither Hegseth nor others, though, would answer basic questions about the group chat, including why Signal was used despite specific guidance from the intelligence community that it be avoided for nonpublic information.
The Atlantic on Wednesday released screenshots of the entire chat — with the exception of the name of a CIA officer who participated — after Trump and advisers repeatedly claimed Tuesday that no “war plans” were shared nor was any classified information revealed. Those screenshots showed that Hegseth at first gave the 16 other Trump officials on the chat (and Goldberg) a detailed timeline of the impending attack, including which planes would be used and what time they would launch from an aircraft carrier.
He then gave details on how the attack was going in real time — including information about the targeted suspected terrorist that provided hints as to how that intelligence was gathered. Further, had the timeline been available to Houthi fighters when it was made available to Goldberg, it could have endangered the lives of the air crews taking part in the raid.
Trump officials across the administration refused to answer HuffPost queries on what sorts of devices — computers versus phones; government-issued versus personal — the various participants had used to log onto the Signal chat. CIA Director John Ratcliffe testified in the Senate on Tuesday that Signal was loaded onto his work computer, but he did not say how he participated in the group chat.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Wednesday testified to House members that Signal comes “pre-installed” on government devices — which, if correct, represents a completely new policy. The app had been prohibited on government devices under the Biden administration.
Trump aide Steve Witkoff may have shed some light on the device issue Wednesday when he posted on social media that the only device he took with him on a trip to Russia two weeks ago was one issued by the U.S. government, which was the reason he did not participate in the group chat as the military strikes were taking place. “Guess why? Because I had no access to my personal devices until I returned from my trip,” he wrote, suggesting that when he finally did join the chat after the raid ended — he texted emoji of two sets of praying hands, a flexed bicep and two American flags — it was from his personal phone.
J.D. Vance said it was “excellent” that a strike collapsed a building. Thirteen civilians died, according to one count.
By Sharon Zhang ,
March 26, 2025
President Donald Trump, accompanied by U.S. National Security Adviser Michael Waltz (right), takes a question from a reporter during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (left) in the Oval Office of the White House on March 13, 2025, in Washington, D.C.Andrew Harnik / Getty Images
Did you know that Truthout is a nonprofit and independently funded by readers like you? If you value what we do, please support our work with a donation.
Trump administration officials effectively admitted to and celebrated a war crime when discussing the U.S.’s airstrikes on Yemen earlier this month, a House Democrat and policy experts have said, citing newly leaked messages published by The Atlantic.
On Wednesday, The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg published a full group chat exchange he had previewed in an article on Monday, in which numerous high-level officials coordinated and discussed the U.S.’s airstrikes on Yemen earlier this month. Wednesday’s exposé came as a response to Trump officials insisting that classified information was not shared in the chat — despite the messages including what are clearly secretive high-level discussions on war plans.
“Another disgusting part of all of this is the proof [of] a blatant war crime to which the Vice President of the United States responded: Excellent,” said Rep. Maxwell Frost, a Democrat from Florida, on social media on Wednesday.
In an exchange after the strikes first hit, as shown in Wednesday’s leak, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz says that the U.S. had collapsed a building that one of their Houthi targets was supposedly inside, calling it “amazing.”
“Their first target — their top missile guy — we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and now it’s collapsed,” Waltz said.
Tlaib: Democrats Rage Over Yemen Strike Leak, But Not at the Strike Itself
The US’s airstrikes on Yemen have reportedly killed dozens of civilians, with the US twice bombing a cancer hospital. By Sharon Zhang , Truthout March 25, 2025
Per the screenshots, Vice President J.D. Vance responds, “Excellent.” CIA Director John Ratcliffe says, “A good start.” Waltz then replies with a fist emoji, a U.S. flag emoji and a flame emoji.
According to Yemen Data Project, the first strike killed at least 13 civilians and injured nine on the night of March 15, hitting north of the capital, Sanaa. Yemen Data Project says that this was the bombing deemed “excellent” by the vice president and “amazing” by Waltz.
The messages are “prima facie evidence of at least one war crime applauded by the people who conspired to commit it,” wrote Dylan Williams, Vice President for Government Affairs for the Center for International Policy (CIP), on social media.
“Rules of engagement that permit destroying an entire civilian apartment building to kill one alleged terrorist is part of Joe Biden’s legacy,” wrote Matt Duss, CIP’s executive vice president. “It’s still a war crime though, and Waltz’s text is a confession.”
International law mandates that combatants must not deliberately target civilians in war, and that they must avoid targeting civilian infrastructure even if there is a military objective. Houthi officials have condemned the U.S’s recent attacks as a war crime. Progressive lawmakers have noted that the U.S. has been bombing Yemen for a decade despite Congress having never formally declared war, making the aggression unconstitutional as well.
The U.S. launched over 47 air strikes on Yemen between March 15 and 16. Yemenis reported numerous strikes on residential buildings. In the Ibb governorate, the U.S. targeted two residential buildings, killing at least 15, per Al Jazeera, while 15 others were killed when the U.S. struck a residential area in the capital.
The bombings killed 53 people in total. At least 25 of them were civilians, per Yemen Data Project, including four children; Yemeni officials have counted more than 30 civilian deaths. The majority of strikes targeted civilian sites, Yemen Data Project said — including a strike on a newly built cancer hospital that the U.S. bombed once again this week.
Drop Site reported that the bombing of the hospital threw the facility into chaos, with children screaming due to their injuries, while some “small victims were charred beyond recognition.” The U.S.’s strikes on the hospital this week have reportedly destroyed the facility.
Did you know that Truthout is a nonprofit and independently funded by readers like you? If you value what we do, please support our work with a donation.
Trump administration officials effectively admitted to and celebrated a war crime when discussing the U.S.’s airstrikes on Yemen earlier this month, a House Democrat and policy experts have said, citing newly leaked messages published by The Atlantic.
On Wednesday, The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg published a full group chat exchange he had previewed in an article on Monday, in which numerous high-level officials coordinated and discussed the U.S.’s airstrikes on Yemen earlier this month. Wednesday’s exposé came as a response to Trump officials insisting that classified information was not shared in the chat — despite the messages including what are clearly secretive high-level discussions on war plans.
“Another disgusting part of all of this is the proof [of] a blatant war crime to which the Vice President of the United States responded: Excellent,” said Rep. Maxwell Frost, a Democrat from Florida, on social media on Wednesday.
In an exchange after the strikes first hit, as shown in Wednesday’s leak, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz says that the U.S. had collapsed a building that one of their Houthi targets was supposedly inside, calling it “amazing.”
“Their first target — their top missile guy — we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and now it’s collapsed,” Waltz said.
Tlaib: Democrats Rage Over Yemen Strike Leak, But Not at the Strike Itself
The US’s airstrikes on Yemen have reportedly killed dozens of civilians, with the US twice bombing a cancer hospital. By Sharon Zhang , Truthout March 25, 2025
Per the screenshots, Vice President J.D. Vance responds, “Excellent.” CIA Director John Ratcliffe says, “A good start.” Waltz then replies with a fist emoji, a U.S. flag emoji and a flame emoji.
According to Yemen Data Project, the first strike killed at least 13 civilians and injured nine on the night of March 15, hitting north of the capital, Sanaa. Yemen Data Project says that this was the bombing deemed “excellent” by the vice president and “amazing” by Waltz.
The messages are “prima facie evidence of at least one war crime applauded by the people who conspired to commit it,” wrote Dylan Williams, Vice President for Government Affairs for the Center for International Policy (CIP), on social media.
“Rules of engagement that permit destroying an entire civilian apartment building to kill one alleged terrorist is part of Joe Biden’s legacy,” wrote Matt Duss, CIP’s executive vice president. “It’s still a war crime though, and Waltz’s text is a confession.”
International law mandates that combatants must not deliberately target civilians in war, and that they must avoid targeting civilian infrastructure even if there is a military objective. Houthi officials have condemned the U.S’s recent attacks as a war crime. Progressive lawmakers have noted that the U.S. has been bombing Yemen for a decade despite Congress having never formally declared war, making the aggression unconstitutional as well.
The U.S. launched over 47 air strikes on Yemen between March 15 and 16. Yemenis reported numerous strikes on residential buildings. In the Ibb governorate, the U.S. targeted two residential buildings, killing at least 15, per Al Jazeera, while 15 others were killed when the U.S. struck a residential area in the capital.
The bombings killed 53 people in total. At least 25 of them were civilians, per Yemen Data Project, including four children; Yemeni officials have counted more than 30 civilian deaths. The majority of strikes targeted civilian sites, Yemen Data Project said — including a strike on a newly built cancer hospital that the U.S. bombed once again this week.
Drop Site reported that the bombing of the hospital threw the facility into chaos, with children screaming due to their injuries, while some “small victims were charred beyond recognition.” The U.S.’s strikes on the hospital this week have reportedly destroyed the facility.
