It might seem like the Signal chat scandal has been around for a long while, but it was early last week when the public first confronted the details of the White House fiasco: Donald Trump’s national security team participated in an unsecured group chat about sensitive operational details of a foreign military strike — and they accidentally included a journalist in their online conversation.
A week later, plenty of lingering questions remain, though officials in the West Wing no longer appear especially eager to answer them. NBC News reported:
Asked about the status of the investigation into how a journalist was added to a high-level group chat about U.S. military plans in Yemen, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt indicated that the president was moving on. “Mike Waltz continues to be an important part of his national security team, and this case has been closed here at the White House,” Leavitt told reporters, adding that steps had been taken to ensure the situation is not repeated.
She did not appear to be kidding.
The press secretary’s use of passive voice was notable — Leavitt said the case “has been closed,” instead of saying who closed it — but putting that aside, her comments suggested that the Signal debacle is no longer of interest to the White House.
Let’s not forget that after the scandal broke, the National Security Council said in a statement that it had launched a review of what transpired, and the president himself told reporters that his administration would investigate the incident.
A week later, it appears that review either wrapped up with remarkable speed, or it was cut short by an incurious White House.
In her comments to reporters, Leavitt went on to say, “There have been steps made to ensure that something like that can obviously never happen.” Again, the press secretary’s use of passive voice stood out: She said “there have been steps made,” instead of saying who took the steps and what those steps entailed.
What’s more, the White House has not yet offered the public any information on what, if anything, the administration’s internal review uncovered.
What we’re left with is an unsettling image in which Trump fires no one as a result of this fiasco, the Justice Department ignores the alleged crimes associated with this scandal, and the White House offers assurances without any details.
In theory, this would be about the time that Congress exercises its oversight authority. In practice, Republicans control Capitol Hill, and the odds of a meaningful investigation in the House or Senate effectively do not exist.
