Battle Plans and Emojis: What the Signal Leak Revealed About Washington
It's the national security scandal no one saw coming — and the first major test of a new administration that prides itself on breaking norms.
This week, we learned that some of the highest-ranking officials in Washington had been orchestrating a bombing campaign in Yemen — via Signal, a messaging app. Their messages, which were accidentally shared with a journalist from The Atlantic, have led to backlash over the administration's handling of state secrets and opened a rare window into how military decisions are made in the emoji era.
The New York Times reporters Jess Bidgood, Helene Cooper, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and David E. Sanger discuss what the Signal chat leak revealed about the Trump administration and the state of politics in Washington.
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