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Korea Herald
4 days ago
- Politics
- Korea Herald
Yoon's insurrection trial on hold as courts begin summer recess
Former President Yoon Suk Yeol's criminal insurrection trial over his short-lived martial law imposition, will be put on hold, as courts across the country begin a summer recess on Monday. The Seoul Central District Court, where Yoon's trial is being held, is scheduled to enter a two-week annual summer recess period from Monday to Aug. 8, a notice posted on its website showed Sunday. During this period, the court will have a reduced schedule for hearings. For all civil cases, hearings and preparatory and conciliation proceedings will be temporarily halted. Dates for criminal trials without detention and hearings and trials that 'do not have a significant impact on human rights' will not be held in the cited period. However, hearings on motions for provisional attachment or preliminary injunctions of civil cases, reviews of criminal trials for defendants held in custody, detention hearings before arrest and related reviews, will be carried out as scheduled during recess. Other trials and proceedings can also continue, if the court deems it necessary. Other courts nationwide will adopt similar rules during their respective summer recess period, which would take place around late July to mid-August. The Seoul Central District Court has so far held 12 hearings for Yoon's insurrection trial. Yoon has not attended his trial for three consecutive hearings, citing poor health. He is currently detained at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, just south of the capital. After the two-week recess wraps-up, Yoon faces a separate trial at the Seoul Central District Court, over additional charges of abuse of power and violating the Presidential Records Act, tied to his martial law bid. The charges were brought by the special counsel team led by prosecutor Cho Eun-seok and the first preparatory hearing is scheduled for Aug. 19. The next hearings in the trials of Yoon's aides, including that of former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, will not take place until mid-August. Kim has been charged with insurrection and abuse of power for deploying the military to the National Assembly in an unsuccessful attempt to block lawmakers from voting to overturn Yoon's martial law decree.
NBC News
23-07-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Trump administration leans in on memes, AI and MAGA messaging online
To mark the first six months of President Donald Trump's second term in office, the White House shared a social media post promising three things will continue as his term proceeds: the 'winning,' the deportations and the memes. 'ATTENTION: TRUMP DIDN'T COME TO PLAY,' reads the caption of the post, which was uploaded to Instagram and X on Sunday. It's coupled with an illustration of Trump in front of an American flag, a bald eagle, fireworks and dollar bills. The post is a window into how the White House has approached its overall social media strategy during Trump's second term. Previously, official White House social media accounts were used largely to promote presidents' policies. Since January, however, the Trump administration has shifted its tone on social media to cater to its MAGA base. Many posts — several of which play off of trending memes — appear to showcase aggression toward some longtime political targets for Trump, such as immigrants and Democrats. The memes have included: a cartoon depiction of a person who appears to be a migrant crying while being arrested, a fake dating app profile matching a 'recently arrested' woman with ICE and a Valentine's Day card that read: 'Roses are red, violets are blue. Come here illegally and we'll deport you.' Such posts have generated some shock online, which the White House itself appears to have referred to this month. In a post on X, the official account wrote: 'Nowhere in the Constitution does it say we can't post banger memes.' The image in the post is of a sign on the White House lawn that reads, 'oMg, diD tHe wHiTE hOuSE reALLy PosT tHis?' The official White House social media accounts, and those for government agencies, are different from Trump's or other officials' personal accounts. The official accounts are passed along to each new administration for their officials to use, and since the Obama administration, each account's content has been archived by the National Archives, in compliance with the Presidential Records Act. But several official White House posts highlight or pull language from Trump's personal account on his platform, Truth Social, where he frequently blasts his political opponents or shares images that appear to have been made with artificial intelligence tools. White House accounts have also shared AI-generated images of Trump as the pope, a 'Star Wars' character and Superman. Joshua Tucker, a co-director of New York University's Center for Social Media and Politics, said such posts are designed to 'get people's attention.' Social media has drastically changed since Trump's first term — when users would mainly see posts from accounts they followed. Now, many social media platforms use an individualized algorithm for each account that Tucker said 'privileges things that pop and that go viral.' 'We're not quite in the world where it's just like, 'If I just tweet, all my followers are going to see what I tweet,'' Tucker said. 'It's 'I need to come up with something that's going to be catchy.'' Among the potential cons of the strategy, Tucker said, is the White House's 'pushing back against norms of what is proprietary in terms of official statements.' Asked about the administration's use of social media during Trump's second term, White House spokesperson Liz Huston said, 'Every day, the White House digital accounts highlight President Trump's widely popular America First agenda and the tangible quality-of-life improvements he has delivered for Americans nationwide.' Other official government accounts for various agencies have taken on similar tones. The Department of Homeland Security's official account has promoted self-deportation through the CBP One app by posting a video set to the song 'Take Me Home, Country Roads.' The song 'Ice, Ice Baby' is the soundtrack for another video pointing viewers to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement tip line. In June, DHS also posted what appeared to be an AI-made image of alligators with caps that read 'ICE' on them, writing in the post, 'Coming soon!' It came amid the opening of a controversial immigrant detention center in Florida, which state Republicans have informally dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz.' Asked whether she is concerned about the content's being divisive or making light of issues the administration wants people to take seriously, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said: 'Not at all.' McLaughlin said she sees the role of the DHS social media accounts as giving people 'the truth' and circumventing media outlets she deems hostile. 'Eight years ago, under the first Trump administration, we didn't have the social media environment that we have today, and so I think that we were more beholden to what the media was saying, and we couldn't necessarily straighten out the facts,' McLaughlin said. 'And now, you know, we have a presence that we're able to do that.' Parker Butler, who ran the @KamalaHQ accounts as the director of digital rapid response for the Biden-turned-Harris 2024 presidential campaign, described what the White House is doing online as 'trolling for the sake of trolling.' 'They are just basically throwing toxic sludge out there and trying to gin up people's reactions,' Butler said. 'And they call that a digital strategy.' They are just basically throwing toxic sludge out there and trying to gin up people's reactions. Parker Butler, who ran the @KamalaHQ accounts for the Biden-turned-Harris 2024 presidential campaign It's a perspective that has been echoed by others who follow politics and have also noticed the shift. 'Like a runaway train, the Republican Party is barreling toward a future in which posting is politics — or, the purest function of politics,' writer Nathan Taylor Pemberton argued in a recent op-ed for The New York Times titled 'Trolling Democracy.' 'It's a grim, ugly and barren place.' But the White House points to growth on multiple digital platforms as evidence its strategy is effective. A White House official said the administration's official social media accounts, including on Truth Social, have added over 16 million new followers across platforms since Inauguration Day. The administration also has engaged social media stars to try to generate a broader audience. In May, Trump gave comedian Theo Von — one of YouTube's most popular creators, particularly among young male conservatives — the role of warmup act at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, where Trump addressed U.S. service members. The White House's Instagram and X accounts have also taken a page out of the typical influencer's engagement playbook, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt uploading a weekly video segment called 'MAGA Minute.' The videos post recaps — in 60 seconds — of things the president and the administration did that week that the White House wants to highlight. In May, Leavitt also held several separate 'influencer briefings.' Of the 25 influencers identified by NBC News who attended the initial three briefings, all but one had histories of explicit support for Trump's administration, and some had direct connections to Trump. 'We will ALWAYS find ways to meet people where they are,' Kaelan Dorr, the White House deputy communications director, said in a statement at the time.
Time of India
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Signal scandal: Pentagon probes Pete Hegseth aides; leaks, clearance lapses flagged
Pete Hegseth (AP) Two of the Pentagon's leading investigative agencies are examining the involvement of two close aides to defence secretary Pete Hegseth in a controversy over the use of the Signal app for discussing sensitive government matters, according to three sources familiar with the investigations, as reported by Politico. An investigation was initially opened in early April by the defence department inspector general's office to look into whether Hegeseth breached the agency's standards for sharing classified information by using the Signal app to discuss active attack plans in Yemen. The Signal app, a commercial messaging app, is not approved by the US government to discuss classified information due to security concerns. The Pentagon's investigations into the two senior aides to Hegseth had not been publicly disclosed until now. As part of the investigation, officials are looking into whether Ricky Buria, a senior aide of Hegseth, had allowed him to use the app, circumventing security protocols, as per three people recently interviewed by officials. A separate inquiry is being carried out by the Air Force Office of Special Investigators (OSI), a federal law agency under the Pentagon, to investigate whether Buria could have been a potential source of leaks earlier this year when, as a military aide, he attended sensitive meetings and had access to Hegseth's devices, as per the three people, reports Politico. OSI is also looking into whether Tim Parlatore, Hegseth's personal attorney and a senior adviser at the Department of Defence, attended meetings where classified information was discussed despite not having the necessary security clearance. 'Ricky and Tim are some of the folks that they're zeroing in on as they try to get to the root of everything,' said an individual familiar with the investigations. Hegseth had allegedly created a second chat on the Signal app, which included his wife Jennifer, as well as his brother Phil Hegseth where he shared similar details of a military strike against Yemen's Houthi militants similar to those sent in a separate chain with senior Trump administration officials, reported the New York Times earlier this year. He had allegedly also used a commercial internet line known as 'dirty line' in IT terms to circumvent standard defence security measures and access encrypted messaging platforms like Signal, a source was quoted as saying by AP in April. Investigators have inquired about the security vulnerabilities of the Signal app, the extent of Hegseth's use of it, and the accuracy of the messages. The IG and OSI have asked witnesses if they were ever told to delete Signal messages from their phones, according to two sources. Such actions could break federal records laws like the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act. These laws can lead to civil or administrative penalties, and in more serious cases, officials could face fines or jail time for deleting classified information or government records. 'Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has successfully reoriented the Department of Defense to put the interests of America's Warfighters and America's taxpayers first, and it has never been better positioned to execute on its mission than it is today,' stated Chief Pentagon spokesperson in an email. 'The success speaks for itself,' he added, as reported by Politico. The Pentagon did not comment on the investigation of Hegseth or his aides at the defence department. Buria and Parlatore also did not comment on the ongoing probe.
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
As Waltz faces UN post hearings, an update on the Signal situation that led to his initial ousting
As Mike Waltz, President Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday for his confirmation hearing, focus returns to his ousting as national security adviser over what some referred to as 'Signalgate.' The former Florida Republican congressman served mere weeks in Trump's administration before revelations that he mistakenly added journalist Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic to a private Signal chat that was used to discuss sensitive military plans, including planning for strikes on Houthi militants in Yemen. Calls came quickly for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to be removed from office, accompanied by criticism of the Trump administration for failing to take action against the top national security officials who discussed plans for the military strike in Signal. After weeks of scrutiny, Waltz left his security post but was swiftly nominated to the U.N. position. Months after the chat was disclosed, questions remain over the controversy, including if federal laws were violated, if classified information was exposed on the commercial messaging app and if anyone else will face consequences. Here's what we know and don't know: ___ KNOWN: Signal is a publicly available app that provides encrypted communications, but it can be hacked. It is not approved for carrying classified information. On March 14, one day before the strikes, the Defense Department cautioned personnel about the vulnerability of Signal, specifically that Russia was attempting to hack the app, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak to the press and spoke on the condition of anonymity. One known vulnerability is that a malicious actor, if they have access to a person's phone, can link their own device to the user's Signal — and monitor messages remotely. NOT KNOWN: How frequently the administration and the Defense Department use Signal for sensitive government communications, and whether those on the chat were using unauthorized personal devices to transmit or receive those messages. The department put out an instruction in 2023 restricting what information could be posted on unauthorized and unclassified systems. At a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing earlier this year, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard would not say whether she was accessing the information on her personal phone or government-issued phone, citing an ongoing investigation by the National Security Council. ___ KNOWN: The government has a requirement under the Presidential Records Act to archive all of those planning discussions. NOT KNOWN: Whether anyone in the group archived the messages as required by law to a government server. The images of the text chain posted by The Atlantic show that the messages were set to disappear in one week. ___ KNOWN: Hegseth had an internet connection that bypassed the Pentagon's security protocols — known in the IT industry as a 'dirty' internet line — set up in his office to use Signal on a personal computer, two people familiar with the line have told The Associated Press. Other Pentagon offices have used them, particularly if there's a need to monitor information or websites that would otherwise be blocked. The biggest advantage of using such a line is that the user would not show up as an IP address assigned to the Defense Department — essentially the user is masked, according to a senior U.S. official familiar with military network security. NOT KNOWN: If use of the line left any Defense-related materials more vulnerable than they would have been on a Pentagon secure line. ___ KNOWN: The chat group included 18 members, including Jeffrey Goldberg, top editor of The Atlantic. The group, called 'Houthi PC Small Group,' likely for Houthi 'principals committee' — was comprised of Trump's senior-most advisers on national security, including Gabbard, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. The National Security Council said the text chain 'appears to be authentic.' NOT KNOWN: How Goldberg got added. Waltz said he built the message chain and didn't know how Goldberg ended up on the chat. He called it a mistake. ___ KNOWN: Just hours before the attack on the Houthis in Yemen began, Hegseth shared details on the timing, targets, weapons and sequence of strikes that would take place. NOT KNOWN: Whether the information was classified. Gabbard, Ratcliffe and the White House have all said it was not classified, and Hegseth said the same in a post on social media. Democrats said that strains credulity. ___ KNOWN: Hegseth has adamantly denied that 'war plans' were texted on Signal, something current and former U.S. officials called 'semantics.' War plans carry a specific meaning. They often refer to the numbered and highly classified planning documents — sometimes thousands of pages long — that would inform U.S. decisions in case of a major conflict. But the information Hegseth did post — specific attack details selecting human and weapons storage targets — was a subset of those plans and was likely informed by the same classified intelligence. Posting those details to an unclassified app risked tipping off adversaries of the pending attack and could have put U.S. service members at risk, multiple U.S. officials said. Sharing that information on a commercial app like Signal in advance of a strike 'would be a violation of everything that we're about,' said former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who served under Democratic President Barack Obama. NOT KNOWN: If anyone outside the messaging group got access to the Signal texts. ___ KNOWN: Hegseth began cracking down on unauthorized leaks of information inside the Defense Department, and his chief of staff issued a memo on March 21 saying the Pentagon would use polygraph tests to determine the sources of recent leaks and prosecute them. NOT KNOWN: Whether Hegseth will take responsibility for the unauthorized release of national defense information regarding the attack plans on the Houthis. Trump in March bristled at a suggestion that Hegseth should step down, saying 'He's doing a great job. He had nothing to do with it.' ___ KNOWN: In April, Dan Caldwell, a senior Hegseth adviser who in the Signal chat had been designated as the secretary's point person, was placed on administrative leave and escorted out of the Pentagon by security. Officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters told The AP that the former Marine's sudden downfall was tied to an investigation into unauthorized disclosure of department information. NOT KNOWN: If any others affiliated with the Signal situation will face reprisals. ___ KNOWN: Also in April, Hegseth was forced to defend himself against a second assertion that he shared classified material through an unapproved and unsecured network, this time taking airstrike information from a military communications channel and sharing it in a Signal chat with his wife, his brother and others. A person familiar with the chat confirmed to The AP that Hegseth pulled the information — such as launch times and bomb drop times of U.S. warplanes about to strike Houthi targets in Yemen — he posted in the chat from a secure communications channel used by U.S. Central Command. NOT KNOWN: If that's the extent of Hegseth's Signal usage. ___ KNOWN: The Pentagon's watchdog has begun looking into Hegseth's use of Signal, and also whether any of Hegseth's aides were asked to delete Signal messages that may have shared sensitive military information with a reporter. NOT KNOWN: What the inspector general will find, or what will be done as a result of those findings. ___ Kinnard can be reached at
Boston Globe
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
As Waltz faces UN post hearings, an update on the Signal situation that led to his initial ousting
Advertisement Months after the chat was disclosed, questions remain over the controversy, including if federal laws were violated, if classified information was exposed on the commercial messaging app and if anyone else will face consequences. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Here's what we know and don't know: Known : Signal is a publicly available app that provides encrypted communications, but it can be hacked. It is not approved for carrying classified information. On March 14, one day before the strikes, the Defense Department cautioned personnel about the vulnerability of Signal, specifically that Russia was attempting to hack the app, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak to the press and spoke on the condition of anonymity. One known vulnerability is that a malicious actor, if they have access to a person's phone, can link their own device to the user's Signal — and monitor messages remotely. Advertisement Not known : How frequently the administration and the Defense Department use Signal for sensitive government communications, and whether those on the chat were using unauthorized personal devices to transmit or receive those messages. The department put out an instruction in 2023 restricting what information could be posted on unauthorized and unclassified systems. At a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing earlier this year, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard would not say whether she was accessing the information on her personal phone or government-issued phone, citing an ongoing investigation by the National Security Council. Known : The government has a requirement under the Presidential Records Act to archive all of those planning discussions. Not known : Whether anyone in the group archived the messages as required by law to a government server. The images of the text chain posted by The Atlantic show that the messages were set to disappear in one week. Known : Hegseth had an internet connection that bypassed the Pentagon's security protocols — known in the IT industry as a 'dirty' internet line — set up in his office to use Signal on a personal computer, two people familiar with the line have told The Associated Press. Other Pentagon offices have used them, particularly if there's a need to monitor information or websites that would otherwise be blocked. The biggest advantage of using such a line is that the user would not show up as an IP address assigned to the Defense Department — essentially the user is masked, according to a senior U.S. official familiar with military network security. Advertisement Not known : If use of the line left any Defense-related materials more vulnerable than they would have been on a Pentagon secure line. Known : The chat group included 18 members, including Jeffrey Goldberg, top editor of The Atlantic. The group, called 'Houthi PC Small Group,' likely for Houthi 'principals committee' — was comprised of Trump's senior-most advisers on national security, including Gabbard, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. The National Security Council said the text chain 'appears to be authentic.' Not known : How Goldberg got added. Waltz said he built the message chain and didn't know how Goldberg ended up on the chat. He called it a mistake. Known : Just hours before the attack on the Houthis in Yemen began, Hegseth shared details on the timing, targets, weapons and sequence of strikes that would take place. Not known : Whether the information was classified. Gabbard, Ratcliffe and the White House have all said it was not classified, and Hegseth said the same in a post on social media. Democrats said that strains credulity. Known : Hegseth has adamantly denied that 'war plans' were texted on Signal, something current and former U.S. officials called 'semantics.' War plans carry a specific meaning. They often refer to the numbered and highly classified planning documents — sometimes thousands of pages long — that would inform U.S. decisions in case of a major conflict. But the information Hegseth did post — specific attack details selecting human and weapons storage targets — was a subset of those plans and was likely informed by the same classified intelligence. Posting those details to an unclassified app risked tipping off adversaries of the pending attack and could have put U.S. service members at risk, multiple U.S. officials said. Advertisement Sharing that information on a commercial app like Signal in advance of a strike 'would be a violation of everything that we're about,' said former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who served under Democratic President Barack Obama. Not known : If anyone outside the messaging group got access to the Signal texts. Known : Hegseth began cracking down on unauthorized leaks of information inside the Defense Department, and his chief of staff issued a memo on March 21 saying the Pentagon would use polygraph tests to determine the sources of recent leaks and prosecute them. Not known : Whether Hegseth will take responsibility for the unauthorized release of national defense information regarding the attack plans on the Houthis. Trump in March bristled at a suggestion that Hegseth should step down, saying 'He's doing a great job. He had nothing to do with it.' Known : In April, Dan Caldwell, a senior Hegseth adviser who in the Signal chat had been designated as the secretary's point person, was Not known : If any others affiliated with the Signal situation will face reprisals. Known : Also in April, Hegseth was forced to defend himself against a second assertion that he shared classified material through an unapproved and unsecured network, this time taking airstrike information from a military communications channel and sharing it in a Signal chat with his wife, his brother and others. A person familiar with the chat confirmed to The AP that Hegseth pulled the information — such as launch times and bomb drop times of U.S. warplanes about to strike Houthi targets in Yemen — he posted in the chat from a secure communications channel used by U.S. Central Command. Advertisement Not known : If that's the extent of Hegseth's Signal usage. Known : The Pentagon's watchdog has begun looking into Hegseth's use of Signal, and also whether any of Hegseth's aides were asked to delete Signal messages that may have shared sensitive military information with a reporter. Not known : What the inspector general will find, or what will be done as a result of those findings.
