31-03-2025
Trump Posts Crackpot Signalgate Conspiracy: ‘WHAT ARE THE ODDS'
President Donald Trump boosted a vague conspiracy targeting the CEO of NPR, who also happens to sit on the board of Signal, as his administration continues to grapple with the fallout of a major intelligence leak on the messaging app.
Trump reposted Sunday an X user's claim of a 'Signal scandal': 'Katherine Maher, the leftist NPR CEO, is currently the Chair of the Board of Signal!' an account called Publius wrote. 'WHAT ARE THE ODDS?'
Publius published a series of posts detailing Maher's professional background, listing her membership in the State Department's Foreign Affairs Policy Board and her stints at the National Democratic Institute, World Bank, and UNICEF.
'She's donated to Democrats like Biden. And, of course, just happens to be the Chair of the Board of Signal Foundation,' the user wrote, calling on Secretary of State Marco Rubio to probe what policies Maher pushed.
The idea appears to have taken hold in conservative circles as well. On Friday, Fox News host Maria Bartiromo asked Texas Rep. Pat Fallon, who questioned Maher in a congressional hearing on NPR: 'What are the odds that Katherine Maher, the leftist NPR CEO, is on the board of Signal as well?'
It's unclear what the significance of Maher's presence on the Signal Foundation board is. Neither Trump nor any of the conspiracy's high-profile proponents have laid out a theory and appear to have settled on merely pointing out her seat on the board.
Trump earlier this weekend admitted that he was clueless about Signal, which became the site of a massive leak after national security officials discussed details of a military strike in Yemen after The Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertently added to their group chat.
'I have no idea what Signal is. I don't care what Signal is,' Trump told NBC on Saturday. 'All I can tell you is it's just a witch hunt, and it's the only thing the press wants to talk about, because you have nothing else to talk about. Because it's been the greatest 100-day presidency in the history of our country.'
The president railed against criticism and media coverage of what has been dubbed 'Signalgate' in a Truth Social post on Sunday, branding it 'the radical left's witch hunt on the never-ending Signal story.'
'They just don't stop - Over and over they go!' he wrote. 'This story and narrative is so old and boring.'
A Pentagon-wide advisory issued days after Goldberg was added to the group chat—and another one issued as far back as 2023—warned against using Signal for discussing nonpublic official information, according to NPR.
Signal has since clarified that the 'vulnerabilities' referred to in the Pentagon memo did not lie within the app, but in phishing scams targeting its users.
This isn't the first time Signal has been the subject of scrutiny.
In 2024, tech mogul and now DOGE chief Elon Musk claimed 'there are known vulnerabilities with Signal that are not being addressed' in response to an article raising questions about Maher's membership on the Signal board.
This prompted Signal president Meredith Whittaker to respond: 'We don't have evidence of extant vulnerabilities, and haven't been notified of anything… We've put a lot of thought into making sure our structure and development practices let people validate our claims, instead of just taking our word for it."
