SignalGate Report Heads to Congress At Moment When GOP Is Feeling Not-So-Great About Our Secretary of War
This is your TPM evening briefing.
This week, Republicans in Congress are furrowing their brows very strongly about the Department of War’s approach to menacing Venezuela, including reporting from the Washington Post that found Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reportedly gave a verbal order to “kill everybody” aboard a vessel that the Trump administration attacked in September. Whether he spoke those words or not remains the subject of some mystery, but it is also largely beside the point. What is clear is that the boat was struck multiple times in almost-certain violation of international law amid a broader campaign that is an almost-certain violation of international law. Hegseth shifted blame to the admiral in charge.
The Washington Post piece, however, did spark the most uniform wave of concern we’ve seen expressed yet from congressional Republicans in the face of atrocity after atrocity committed by the second Trump administration. Multiple Republican senators spoke to the press this week, expressing distress over the apparent lethal targeting of defenseless survivors of the U.S.’s strike on Venezuelan boat that the administration suspected of carrying drugs. The survivors were reportedly in the water clinging to the shipwrecked vessel when additional strikes rained down on them. Republican members of the Senate Armed Services Committee have said they want answers about who at Pentagon ordered the second strike on survivors after the first attack.
“My understanding is that we may have a problem if you’re killing survivors in water after a strike,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) said earlier this week. “But I want to see the actual stuff within the [military] codes. We’re just going to get the facts first.”
“I’m not comfortable with the two blow,” Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV) said Tuesday. “You know, if that really happened. And I’m not comfortable; I just think it’s unacceptable.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) has suggested that a “violation of moral, ethical and legal requirements” may have taken place. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) has categorized the incident as “wrong.”
The language is about as strong as it gets at this point in the disintegration of the Republican-controlled legislative branch into a husk that has, this year, served as little other than a vessel for President Trump’s whims and wishes. Now, more evidence of Hegseth’s recklessness is headed their way.
The Pentagon Inspector General’s report on SignalGate is complete, and headed to Congress. This, you will recall, is the scandal during which Hegseth used the Signal messaging app to discuss sensitive attack plans targeting members of the Houthi rebellion in Yemen. It has remained unclear whether Hegseth properly declassified information that he relayed to Trump administration officials in the encrypted group chat. We know all this because the chat, absurdly, included Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who was apparently added to the chat by accident.
The IG’s office found that Hegseth “risked compromising sensitive military information, which could have endangered American troops and mission objectives” when he shared the information on Signal earlier this year, in CNN’s words. More from CNN:
Messages sent from Hegseth’s Signal account to the group chat, the contents of which sources previously confirmed to CNN included material from documents marked classified at the time they were sent, offered specific, real-time updates about planned military strikes. They were so specific that one even read: “This is when the first bombs will drop.”
It remains unclear if Hegseth properly declassified that information before sharing it with other top Trump officials, and a reporter who was accidentally added to the chat.
The IG report concluded that there remains no documentation that Hegseth made that decision in the moment, one of the sources said, noting that Hegseth refused to sit for an interview with the inspector general and submitted his version of events in writing.
It also, reportedly, includes details about Hegseth’s refusal to cooperate with the probe, which may not be evidence of guilt but sure don’t look terribly innocent. MS NOW:
Hegseth refused an interview request, per two sources who read or were briefed on the report. Hegseth also would not turn over his phone for the inspector general’s investigation, a source who read the report and a second source familiar told MS NOW. A source briefed on the report said that Hegseth “didn’t cooperate and handed over only a couple of screenshots.”
How receptive Senate Republicans will be to the IG’s findings, during a week when they’ve been openly questioning Pentagon leadership’s judgment, remains to be seen.
— Nicole LaFond
Lawmakers Nudge Bondi on Epstein
A bipartisan group of lawmakers sent Attorney General Pam Bondi a letter on Wednesday asking for a status update on the release of the Epstein files by the end of the week. The letter was sent by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) as well as Representatives Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA), who wrote the legislation that compelled the release of the DOJ’s tranche of documents on investigations into Epstein that Trump signed into law last month. A snippet:
In the interest of transparency and clarity on the steps required to faithfully implement the Epstein Files Transparency Act, we request a briefing either in a classified or unclassified setting, to discuss the full contents of this new information in your possession at your convenience, but not later than Friday, December 5th, 2025.
— Nicole LaFond
Trump Targets Minnesota
The Trump administration has announced a new immigration enforcement crackdown focused on undocumented Somali immigrants in Minnesota, according to reports from the AP and the New York Times.
The newly announced operation comes only days after President Trump took to Truth Social to use a slur to describe Democratic Gov. Tim Walz related to what he claimed was a “refugee burden” plaguing Minnesota.
“This refugee burden is the leading cause of social dysfunction in America, something that did not exist after World War II (Failed schools, high crime, urban decay, overcrowded hospitals, housing shortages, and large deficits, etc.),” he wrote. “As an example, hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia are completely taking over the once great State of Minnesota. Somalian gangs are roving the streets looking for ‘prey’ as our wonderful people stay locked in their apartments and houses hoping against hope that they will be left alone.”
The new layer of Trump’s nationwide operation against immigrants involves sending 100 ICE agents to the state, according to the New York Times. Agents are expected to focus on detaining and deporting Somalians living in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
“We welcome support in investigating and prosecuting crime. But pulling a PR stunt and indiscriminately targeting immigrants is not a real solution to a problem,” Walz wrote in a post on X on Tuesday.
— Khaya Himmelman
In Case You Missed It
In case you missed this, we published this new piece from Josh Kovensky this morning: When To Accommodate, and When To Fight? NY Officials Agonize and Prepare for Federal Escalation
New episode of the Josh Marshall Podcast Feat. Kate Riga: Another Special Night
Josh Marshall: Steve Bannon’s Surprisingly Key Role in the Epstein Scandal
Morning Memo: Don’t Overcomplicate the Scandal of Trump’s Lawless High Seas Attacks
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
Trump White House Throws Military Under the Bus For Lawless Attack
What We Are Reading
RFK Jr.’s pick to reshape the childhood vaccine schedule embraces Covid conspiracy theories
Lawmakers obtain Epstein banking records, release photos of his private island compound
Trump Returns to Gasoline as Fuel of Choice for Cars, Gutting Biden’s Climate Policy