Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
(SAN DIEGO) — Sea lions on the California coast are reportedly displaying strange behavior, likely due to a harmful algae bloom impacting the region, according to marine researchers.
There have been reports of the marine mammals acting aggressively in some cases, and in others, they appear lethargic, Jeni Smith, rescue supervisor at SeaWorld San Diego, told ABC San Diego affiliate KGTV. Smith described one sea lion who appeared to be “star-gazing.”
“Some animals seem very, very sleepy, maybe right after having a seizure, Smith said. “They may be abnormally aggressive.”
The sea lions are likely being poisoned by domoic acid, a neurotoxin within the algae blooms, which they ingest through the fish they eat, according to marine experts. Ingesting domoic acid can cause amnesic shellfish poisoning in humans and marine mammals, according to the Marine Mammal Care Center.
Harmful algal blooms occur when colonies of algae grow out of control and produce toxic or harmful affects on people, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Some blooms produce toxins that can kill fish, mammals and birds. In some cases, the algal blooms can cause illness or death in humans, according to NOAA.
The toxic algae blooms typically only form every four to seven years, but warming temperatures and an increase of pollution can increase the growth and occurrences, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Recently, marine researchers in Southern California have witnessed consecutive years of harmful algal blooms, Dave Bader, chief operations and education officer at the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro, told KGTV.
The Marine Mammal Care Center has taken in nearly 150 sea lions since February, Bader said. There have been reports of dolphins and seabirds falling ill as well, and this event could be worse than the bloom that occurred in 2023, which killed 1,000 sea lions, according to the marine conservation group.
RJ LaMendola said he was surfing when he was attacked at Oxnard State Beach in Ventura County, California, by a “demonic” sea lion that bit him and dragged him off his board, he wrote on Facebook on Friday.
LaMendola described the sea lion as “feral” and “almost demonic.” The decades-long surfer was struck that the mammal was “devoid of the curiosity or playfulness” he usually associates with sea lions, he wrote.
“This isn’t normal sea lion behavior — it’s something darker, something dangerous,” he wrote, saying he won’t be surfing again “anytime soon.”
Smith urged the public to do their part to create a better environment for marine life and prevent pollution.
“Throwing away their trash, not allowing anything toxic to go down the storm drain, because everything goes back to the ocean,” Smith said.
(NEW YORK) — Luigi Mangione violated the “special treatment” he was afforded for his last court appearance when handwritten notes were concealed inside a pair of argyle socks he was allowed to wear, New York City prosecutors said Wednesday in a new court filing.
Mangione, who is accused of gunning down United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December, was given special accommodations for his “fashion needs” when he was allowed to change out of his jail-issued clothing before his Feb. 21 court appearance, according to the filing.
The defense team gave a court officer a bag of clothes, which included a new pair of argyle socks wrapped around cardboard, the filing said.
“Secreted in the cardboard were two personal heart-shaped notes, one addressed to an unknown person named ‘Joan’ and the other to Luigi stating in part ‘know there are thousands of people wishing you luck,'” the Manhattan district attorney’s office said.
“In spite of this, the defendant was permitted to wear the argyle socks, which he first changed into and later changed out of because he felt that ‘they did not look good,'” prosecutors said.
Mangione ended up appearing sock-less at the court appearance, with shackles around his ankles.
“Fortunately, the items smuggled were handwritten notes and not contraband capable of harming the transporting officers,” prosecutors noted.
The sartorial detail was included in a filing that responded to defense accusations that prosecutors withheld grand jury witness testimony and copies of electronic devices seized upon Mangione’s arrest, in violation of discovery obligations.
Prosecutors conceded they have not provided the testimony of civilian witnesses before the grand jury because they “constituted a fraction of the testimony before the Grand Jury,” comprising four of the 23 witnesses called. Otherwise, the DA’s office said there have been ample discovery disclosures to the defense.
Prosecutors also said in Wednesday’s court filing that Mangione does not need his own “specially formulated laptop” in jail because he “fails to show a necessity” to receive one.
Mangione’s attorneys asked that he be provided with a laptop “modified to the detention center’s regulations” so he can view videos, photos and other evidence.
“Without the laptop, which allows Mr. Mangione to review discovery outside the presence of counsel, there are not enough visiting hours that would allow the defense to view all discovery with the defendant (including thousands of hours of video) and also meet the Court’s current motion schedule,” the defense said.
Few inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn are given laptops.
Prosecutors said Mangione “has ample access to desktop computers” that he can use to review evidence, conduct legal research, send emails and draft motions.
“Ironically, the defense repeats at every opportunity that defendant is being treated differently than other defendants similarly situated. Yet, that’s precisely what the defense seeks — special treatment for defendant, without circumstances that warrant it,” Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann said.
On Dec. 4, Mangione allegedly shot and killed Thompson in a premeditated attack outside a Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan as the CEO headed to an investors conference.
According to a newly disclosed court document, the backpack Mangione was carrying when he was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after the murder was full of items that could suggest he intended to remain on the run and, possibly, kill again.
The backpack had a gun, a Glock magazine, 9 mm cartridges and a silencer, along with a knife, phone charger, duct tape, passport, zip ties, clothes, a computer and handwritten notes, the automatic discovery form said.
Authorities also found receipts for items purchased at a CVS and for registration at a New York City hostel under the name Mark Rosario, which matches the name on a fake New Jersey driver’s license Mangione allegedly carried.
Prosecutors extracted data from devices linked to Mangione, including a Motorola cellphone he allegedly dropped while fleeing, the document said.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state charges.
He has not yet entered a plea to federal charges. One of the federal charges, murder through use of a firearm, makes Mangione eligible for the death penalty if convicted.
(BOSTON) — A Tufts University PhD student on a visa was arrested by immigration authorities outside of Boston on Tuesday night, according to the school and the student’s lawyer.
The student, Rumeysa Ozturk, is a Turkish national, according to her lawyer, Mahsa Khanbabai.
“Rumeysa Ozturk is a Turkish national who was maintaining valid F-1 status as a PhD student at Tufts University,” Khanbabai said in a statement. “Rumeysa was heading to meet with friends to break her Ramadan fast on the evening of March 25th when she was detained near her home in Somerville, MA by DHS agents. We are unaware of her whereabouts and have not been able to contact her.”
“No charges have been filed against Rumeysa to date that we are aware of. I filed a habeas petition requesting that she not be moved out of the District of MA which was granted by Judge [Indira] Talwani last night,” according to her lawyer.
ABC News has reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Ozturk is listed in the ICE database as “in custody.”
In an email to students on Tuesday, the school said it was informed that her visa status was “terminated,” and is seeking to find out more information.
“The university had no pre-knowledge of this incident and did not share any information with federal authorities prior to the event, and the location where this took place is not affiliated with Tufts University,” the school wrote.
“From what we have been told subsequently, the student’s visa status has been terminated, and we seek to confirm whether that information is true. The university has no additional information at this time about the cause or circumstances of the student’s apprehension and is attempting to learn more about the incident,” it continued, in part.
“Following university protocol, the Office of University Counsel will assist in connecting the student to external legal resources should the individual request our assistance,” it added.
NPR CEO Katherine Maher, PBS President & CEO Paula Kerger; Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Republicans accused public media outlets NPR and PBS of bias at a House subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, while Democrats defended the organizations and criticized the event as a distraction from the ongoing controversy regarding the Trump administration’s use the Signal messaging app for the communication of sensitive information.
PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger and NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher rebutted allegations of bias, saying the outlets abide by journalistic standards and serve a diverse audience that includes rural viewers.
The hearing, titled “Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the Heads of NPR and PBS Accountable,” was held by the Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) subcommittee, the name of which echoes the Department of Government Efficiency, the Trump administration’s cost-cutting initiative overseen by Elon Musk.
House Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., criticized NPR and PBS during the hearing for alleged liberal bias, pointing to federal funding for the outlets as the target of potential cuts.
“NPR and PBS have increasingly become radical, left-wing echo chambers for a narrow audience of mostly wealthy, white, urban liberals and progressives,” Greene said.
Minutes later, House Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Ma., defended the public media outlets and criticized the hearing as a distraction for more important issues often taken up by the House Oversight Committee, the larger body to which the DOGE subcommittee belongs.
“I’m sad to see this once proud committee — the principle investigative committee in the House of Representatives — has now stooped to the lowest levels of partisanship and political theater to hold a hearing to go after the likes of Elmo and Cookie Monster and Arthur the aardvark,” Lynch said.
Later in the hearing, Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Ca., said sarcastically: “Is Elmo now, or has he ever been, a member of the Communist Party?”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(PHOENIX) — Sweltering weather across the West is expected to continue on Wednesday.
Phoenix hit 99 degrees on Tuesday, setting a new daily record. The Arizona city is expected to get up to 93 on Wednesday.
Temperatures across the West are expected to be 10 to 20 degrees above normal on Wednesday, even up in the Pacific Northwest, where Seattle and Portland, Oregon, could set new daily records.
Seattle is forecast to hit 70 degrees on Wednesday, while Portland is expected to get up to 78. Elsewhere, Salt Lake City is forecast to get into the upper 70s, which would near a daily temperature record of 79; and Grand Junction, Colorado, is expecting 80-degree weather, which is nearing the 81-degree record.
Texas is forecast to see 80-degree temperatures from El Paso to Dallas.
But a slow-moving warm front forecast for southern Texas later Wednesday is expected to bring heavy rain and possible flash flooding through Friday morning.
Parts of the Texas Gulf Coast could see 5 to 10 inches of rainfall between Wednesday afternoon and Friday morning with places such as Rockport and Corpus Christi expected to get the biggest soaking, possibly up to 15 inches in some isolated spots.
The wet weather could turn dangerous due to hard soils amid drought conditions. In the last 30 days, the region, including Corpus Christi, has gotten less than 5% of normal rainfall. Houston has seen less than 50% of normal rainfall over the last month.
The weather is also expected to take a dramatic turn in the Pacific Northwest as a storm pushing ashore later Wednesday could produce large hail, damaging wind gusts and possibly spawn tornadoes west of the Cascade Mountains.
The same system is forecast to track into the Rockies on Thursday, bringing strong winds and rain, but no severe storms.
(WASHINGTON) — Five Cabinet members are facing a federal lawsuit over the use of Signal to coordinate military strikes in Yemen, with the case presided over by the same judge handling the case against the Trump administration over its deportation flights under the Alien Enemies Act.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg is overseeing the deportation case, which has led the White House to publicly attack him and call for his impeachment. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt has called him a “Democrat activist” and President Donald Trump has posted on Truth Social calling him a “radical left lunatic.”
The use of the Signal group chat was revealed Monday by The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who said he was inadvertently added to the chat as top national security officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, were discussing the operation.
Transparency nonprofit American Oversight filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday afternoon in Washington, D.C., alleging that the use of Signal violates the federal law that governs the preservation of government records, asking a federal judge to order the cabinet members to preserve the messages.
According to the lawsuit, emergency relief is needed “to prevent the unlawful destruction of federal records and to compel Defendants to fulfill their legal obligations to preserve and recover federal records created through unauthorized use of Signal for sensitive national security decision-making.”
The lawsuit – which names Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the National Archives as defendants – asked a federal judge to declare the use of Signal unlawful and order the cabinet members to preserve the records immediately.
According to American Oversight, the use of Signal violated the Federal Records Act, and the chat reported by The Atlantic “strongly suggests” that the Trump administration has used Signal in other settings.
“Messages in the Signal chat about official government actions, including, but not limited to, national security deliberations, are federal records and must be preserved in accordance with federal statutes, and agency directives, rules, and regulations,” the lawsuit said.
President Trump and other top administration officials have downplayed the use of the Signal to discuss the attack on the Houthis, saying classified information was not shared in the chat.
Craig Hudson for The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — A measles case was confirmed in a person who traveled to Washington, D.C., on an Amtrak train, according to the D.C. Department of Health (DC Health).
The person visited multiple locations while contagious, including the southbound Amtrak Northeast Regional 175 Train and Union Station on March 19 as well as a MedStar Urgent Care in Adams Morgan on March 22, DC Health said in a press release on Tuesday.
DC Health said it is currently working to inform people who were at these locations that they may have been exposed.
Health officials are specifying that people who are “not immune” are most at-risk of infection. This includes those who are unvaccinated or who have never contracted measles before.
DC Health did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
“DC Public Health has notified Amtrak of a confirmed case of measles in a customer traveling on Amtrak Train 175 from New York to Washington Union Station on Wednesday, March 19,” Amtrak said in a statement on Wednesday. “Amtrak is reaching out directly to customers who were on this train to notify them of possible exposure.”
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene also released a statement on Wednesday, saying it is “aware” of the confirmed case and the patient’s travel.
“Public Health agencies routinely exchange information when exposures occur in other localities, and we are in communication with the DC Department of Health on this matter,” the statement read in part.
The CDC has confirmed 378 measles cases so far this year in at least 17 states: Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont and Washington. This is likely an undercount due to delays in states reporting cases to the federal health agency.
Health officials are encouraging those who have never been vaccinated before to receive the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine.
The CDC currently recommends that people receive two vaccine doses, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective, the CDC says. Most vaccinated adults don’t need a booster.
ABC News’ Matt Foster and Othon Leyva contributed to this report.
(PABRADĖ, Lithuania) — Search and recovery efforts are underway for four U.S. Army soldiers who went missing during scheduled tactical training near Pabradė, Lithuania, the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius said.
They were reported missing on Tuesday, the Lithuanian Armed Forces said.
The Army, Lithuanian Armed Forces and Lithuanian law enforcement are among those involved in the search, the U.S. Embassy said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld government regulation of self-assemble firearm kits that produce untraceable weapons known as “ghost guns.”
The 7-2 decision came from Justice Neil Gorsuch. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented.
“The Gun Control Act embraces, and thus permits ATF to regulate, some weapon parts kits and unfinished frames or receivers, including those we have discussed,” Gorsuch wrote.
In 2022, the Biden administration cracked down on the self-assemble kits with a new rule subjecting them to the same checks as traditional firearms — including background checks, age verification, serialization and more.
Challengers of the rule, which included gun manufacturers and individual gun owners, contended the 1968 Gun Control Act didn’t apply to weapon parts kits and that the administrative action was an overreach.
Justice Gorsuch, writing for the majority, made a textual case for why gun parts kits can be subject to federal regulations in the same way as any other gun.
“The [Gun Control Act] authorizes ATF to regulate “any weapon (including a starter gun) which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive,” Gorsuch wrote.
“A person without any specialized knowledge can convert a starter gun into a working firearm using everyday tools in less than an hour. And measured against that yardstick, the ‘Buy Build Shoot’ kit can be ‘readily converted’ into a firearm too, for it requires no more time, effort, expertise, or specialized tools to complete. If the one meets the statutory test, so must the other,” he concluded. Justices Thomas and Alito disagreed in their dissent.
“The statutory terms ‘frame’ and ‘receiver’ do not cover the unfinished frames and receivers contained in weapon-parts kits, and weapon-parts kits themselves do not meet the statutory definition of ‘firearm,'” Thomas wrote. “That should end the case. The majority instead blesses the Government’s overreach based on a series of errors regarding both the standard of review and the interpretation of the statute.”
Wednesday’s ruling from the high court is significant for gun control advocates as the number of firearms recovered from crime scenes without a serial number rose sharply in recent years: nearly 17-fold between 2017 and 2023, according to the Justice Department, with 19,000 untraceable weapons recovered in 2021 alone.
“This Supreme Court decision is great news for everyone but the criminals who have adopted untraceable ghost guns as their weapons of choice,” John Feinblatt, the president of Everytown for Gun Safety, said in a statement. “Ghost guns look like regular guns, shoot like regular guns, and kill like regular guns — so it’s only logical that the Supreme Court just affirmed they can also be regulated like regular guns.”
The court’s opinion acknowledges that the exponential proliferation of ghost guns has posed an urgent problem for law enforcement nationwide.
“Efforts to trace the ownership of these weapons, the government represents, have proven almost entirely futile,” Gorsuch wrote.
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth/ Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration is under scrutiny after The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg said he was inadvertently added to a Signal group chat that included top national security officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in which the officials discussed plans for a U.S. attack on Houthis in Yemen.
Goldberg revealed the mishap in a piece for the magazine on Monday and told ABC News that he was apparently added to the chat by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.
Goldberg provided two screenshots in the magazine piece and did not provide details or quotes, only a description of the operational part of the Signal message chain.
Both the Trump administration and top officials involved have repeatedly denied that war plans or classified information were discussed, as Goldberg reported.
Below is a timeline spanning from the creation of the group chat to what has happened since.
March 11
In an interview with “ABC News Live” Monday evening, Goldberg told Linsey Davis he received a message request on the Signal app from White House national security adviser Mike Waltz, or someone “who’s purporting to be Mike Waltz” on March 11.
He said the invitation was “not an unusual thing in Washington.”
“I’m a journalist, I’ve met him in the past, so I accept it,” he told ABC News.
Goldberg said he accepted the request, with nothing occurring until several days later, when he was added to a “group of seemingly very high national security officials of the United States” including Vice President JD Vance, with Waltz apparently creating this chat.
“Mike Waltz puts this group together and says it’s a planning group for essentially upcoming action in Yemen,” Goldberg said.
Goldberg told ABC News he initially thought it was a hoax since it would be “completely absurd to me that the national security leadership of the United States would be meeting on a messaging app to discuss forthcoming military action, and that then they would also invite the editor of The Atlantic magazine to that conversation.”
March 14
Goldberg told ABC News a “long conversation” occurred between the group chat members on March 14, discussing “whether or not they should or shouldn’t take action in Yemen.”
The messages went back and forth with “a lot of resentment directed at European allies of the United States, which obviously enhanced the credibility of this chain,” Goldberg said.
He told ABC News at this point the members of the chat sounded like people he knew within the administration, but still was not sure whether or not it was a hoax.
March 15
Goldberg told ABC News he continued to track the incoming messages from the group chat, to see “who was trying to entrap me or trick me.” Then on March 15, he said it became “overwhelmingly clear” it was a legitimate group chat, he told ABC News.
At 11:44 a.m., he said he received a text in the chain from someone claiming to be Hegseth, or “somebody identified as Pete,” providing what Goldberg characterized as a war plan. The message included a “sequencing of events related to an upcoming attack on Yemen” and promised results by 1:45 p.m. Eastern time.
Goldberg told ABC News he was in his car and waiting with his phone to “see if this was a real thing.”
“Sure enough, around 1:50 [p.m.] Eastern time, I see that Yemen is under attack,” he said.
When the attacks seemed to be “going well,” Goldberg told ABC News that members of the chat began sending congratulatory messages along with fist, fire and American flag emojis.
“That was the day I realized this is possibly unbelievably the leaders of the United States discussing this on my messaging app,” Goldberg told ABC News. “My reaction was, I think I’ve discovered a massive security breach in the United States national security system.”
Goldberg told ABC News he removed himself from the group chat once the operation was completed.
“I watched this Yemen operation go from beginning to apparent end, and that was enough for me to learn that there’s something wrong in the system here that would allow this information to come so dangerously close to the open wild,” Goldberg said.
March 16
Waltz appeared on ABC’s “This Week” the day after the strikes on Yemen and said the U.S. airstrikes “took out” multiple leaders of the Iranian-backed Houthis, which he said differed from the Biden administration’s launches against the group.
“These were not kind of pinprick, back and forth — what ultimately proved to be feckless attacks,” Waltz said. “This was an overwhelming response that actually targeted Houthi leaders and took them out. And the difference here is, one, going after the Houthi leadership, and two, holding Iran responsible.”
March 24
Goldberg published a story in The Atlantic revealing the mishap, in a piece titled “The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans.”
Shortly after the story’s publication on Monday afternoon, White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes shared with ABC News the statement he provided to The Atlantic confirming the authenticity of the Signal group chat.
“At this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain. The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our servicemembers or our national security,” Hughes said in a statement.
Speaking to reporters Monday, Hegseth denied he sent war plans in the chat.
“I’ve heard how it was characterized. Nobody was texting war plans, and that’s all I have to say about that,” Hegseth told reporters in Honolulu while on a layover on his trip to Asia.
Hegseth called Goldberg a “deceitful and highly discredited, so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again.”
“This is the guy that pedals in garbage. This is what he does,” Hegseth said about Goldberg.
During an event at the White House on Monday, President Donald Trump was asked about Goldberg’s article. “I don’t know anything about it. I’m not a big fan of The Atlantic,” he said.
Top Democrats including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries voiced outrage at the administration after this mishap.
“It is yet another unprecedented example that our nation is increasingly more dangerous because of the elevation of reckless and mediocre individuals, including the Secretary of Defense,” Jeffries said in a statement on Monday.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who faced scrutiny over her alleged use of a private email server while at the State Department, shared her reaction to the Signal group chat on X: “You have got to be kidding me.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also criticized this apparent breach of military intelligence, urging Senate Republicans to work with Democrats in a “full investigation” to look into how this incident occurred.
“If you were up in arms over unsecure emails years ago, you should certainly be outraged by this amateurish behavior,” Schumer said on the Senate floor, referencing the scandal over Clinton’s emails.
March 25
On Tuesday morning, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Goldberg is “well-known for his sensationalist spin” and emphasized that “no ‘war plans’ were discussed.”
“As the National Security Council stated, the White House is looking into how Goldberg’s number was inadvertently added to the thread. Thanks to the strong and decisive leadership of President Trump, and everyone in the group, the Houthi strikes were successful and effective. Terrorists were killed and that’s what matters most to President Trump,” Leavitt shared on X.
Trump told NBC News he remains confident in Waltz even after the use of an unsecured group chat.
“Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” Trump told NBC correspondent Garrett Haake.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe were grilled by Democratic Sen. Mark Warner on Tuesday regarding the mishap. Both officials said while testifying before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence there was no classified information on the chain.
Ratcliffe said he believed the “national security adviser intended this to be as it should have been, a mechanism for coordinating between senior level officials, but not a substitute for using high side or classified communications for anything that would be classified.”
Speaker Mike Johnson continued to downplay the mishap but admitted the breach was a “serious” mistake on Tuesday.
“Look, they have acknowledged that there is an error, and they are correcting it. And I would’ve asked the same thing of the Biden administration,” Johnson said during a news conference Tuesday morning.
During a White House meeting with ambassadors on Tuesday afternoon, Trump said this incident is “just something that can happen” and that there was “no classified information” in the group chat.
He added that Signal is “not a perfect technology.”
“Sometimes somebody can get onto those things,” Trump said. “That’s one of the prices you pay when you’re not sitting in the Situation Room with no phones on, which is always the best, frankly.”
Waltz said the White House’s tech and legal teams are looking into the mishap.
“No one in your national security team would ever put anyone in danger,” Waltz said.
He also claimed to have never met Goldberg.
“We are looking into him, reviewing how the heck he got into this room,” Waltz said.
A spokesperson for The Atlantic released a statement on Tuesday night following the comments from Trump and his aides.
“Attempts to disparage and discredit The Atlantic, our editor and our reporting follow an obvious playbook by elected officials and other in power who are hostile to journalists and the First Amendment rights of all Americans,” the magazine said.
The statement went on to say that “any responsible national security expert would consider the information contained in this Signal chat to be of the greatest sensitivity, and would agree that this information should never be shared on non-government messaging apps.”
March 26
Schumer and other top Senate Democrats on national security committees wrote a letter to Trump seeking more information about the mishap, requesting a “complete and unredacted” transcript of the Signal group chat for the appropriate committees to review in a secure setting.
“We write to you with extreme alarm about the astonishingly poor judgment shown by your Cabinet and national security advisors,” the Senators wrote, according to a copy of the letter obtained by ABC News. “You have long advocated for accountability and transparency in the government, particularly as it relates to the handling of classified information, national security and the safety of American servicemembers. As such, it is imperative that you address this breach with the seriousness and diligence that it demands.”
The Atlantic on Wednesday published a new article detailing purported information about recent American strikes in Yemen it says was accidentally shared in the Signal group chat.
Shortly after the article was published, Leavitt said in a post on X “these were NOT ‘war plans.'”
“This entire story was another hoax written by a Trump-hater who is well-known for his sensationalist spin,” Leavitt said.
ABC News’ Fritz Farrow, Anne Flaherty, Luis Martinez, Isabella Murray, Allison Pecorin, Lauren Peller, Michelle Stoddart, Selina Wang and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.
