
How an app unfamiliar to Trump rocked his week
CNN
As President Donald Trump’s advisers this week took on the unenviable task of informing him a journalist he loathes was inadvertently added to a group chat discussing secret attack plans, one key detail required some further explanation.
As President Donald Trump’s advisers this week took on the unenviable task of informing him a journalist he loathes was inadvertently added to a group chat discussing secret attack plans, one key detail required some further explanation. Before Monday, Trump said he had never heard of Signal, the encrypted chat app where his national security adviser, defense secretary, vice president, chief of staff and others had been communicating about the forthcoming strikes on Yemen. With Trump only a recent convert to texting, a person familiar said he needed an aide to explain what, exactly, his team had been utilizing to convey sensitive details about the timing and targets of the planned attack on Houthi rebels. In comments over the course of the week, Trump seemed to gain a firmer grasp of the app that had launched a new Washington scandal. So, too, did he seem to form a stronger opinion of who was to blame. “I was told it was Mike,” Trump said, referring to national security adviser Mike Waltz, whom The Atlantic journalist said had added him to the chat. The entire episode has frustrated Trump, according to people familiar with his views, in part because he thinks it marred what he sees as a strong start to his second term. Speaking earlier this week, he deemed it the first real “glitch” of his second administration.













