There’s no question that this week’s Signalgate scandal in which much of the upper echelon of the Trump Administration discussed high-level attack plans on the commercially available Signal app, and accidentally added a reporter, was embarrassing for the Administration.
Speculation has continued that it could lead National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, or Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, to an early exit from the administration.
But will anyone involved be charged criminally?
The Espionage Act and Signalgate
As laid out this week by Axios, the Espionage Act of 1917 is the operative legislation. That’s the legislation that has been used in the past to prosecute everyone from Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg to convicted spy for Israel Jonathan Pollard to Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange, and Edward Snowden.
However, national security attorney Bradley Moss told Axios that while Signalgate represents a “clear breach of security protection,” the question of “actual criminal liability is far murkier.”
Moss added that while Hegseth “should have known it was not appropriate for a conversation on Signal, proving intent would certainly not be a given in a criminal case.”
And then there’s the question of whether the Trump Administration would even consider prosecuting its own people for their roles in Signalgate, or for anything else.
Bondi Speaks
Attorney General Pam Bondi, a noted Trump loyalist, indicated Thursday that it’s highly unlikely that any criminal investigation will occur in connection with Signalgate.
“It was sensitive information, not classified, and inadvertently released,” Bondi said at a news conference. She later changed the subject to Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Hunter Biden.
All three of those people, of course, were subject to criminal investigations, although neither Hillary Clinton or former President Biden was charged with any crime concerning mishandling classified information, while Hunter Biden’s criminal prosecutions weren’t about that.
Per the Times, the government has considered “military plans, weapons or operations” to be classified information, at least since the Reagan Administration. And Andrew McCarthy, a conservative legal analyst usually sympathetic to the legal positions of Trump and his allies, wrote this week for the New York Post that in the cast of Signalgate, the “Trump team can’t argue these messages weren’t classified — of course they were!”
And while the Robert Mueller special counsel probe of the first Trump Administration resulted from then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions recusing himself from the Russia investigation and his deputy Rod Rosenstein appointing Mueller as special counsel, Bondi has shown no indication that she would do anything like that.
What Can Congress Do?
There could be a Congressional investigation of the Signalgate matter. While Republicans currently control both houses of Congress, the Senate Intelligence Committee appears to have taken an interest in this, with Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe already testifying before that committee.
A separate story in The Hill stated that Republican lawmakers have placed Pete Hegseth, in particular, under “close scrutiny,” although no Republicans have called for him to resign.
Multiple Democrats, including Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) have called on the defense secretary to resign, while Axios reported that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) is readying articles of impeachment for Hegseth, Waltz, and Ratcliffe.
Also in the House, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) is planning legislation to specifically make it illegal to share classified information on Signal or apps like it, with prison time attached. Axios described this as “long-shot legislation,” and like Omar’s impeachment effort, its chances of success in a Republican-controlled House are slim.
How About a Lawsuit?
While criminal charges in the Signalgate affair seem unlikely, there has now been a lawsuit concerning the incident.
Tulsi Gabbard on Fox News. Image Credit: Fox News Screengrab.
Also per Axios, a government watchdog organization called American Oversight has filed suit against Hegseth, Ratcliffe, Gabbard, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, for their parts in the Signalgate chat. The suit is seeking to “recover unlawfully deleted messages and prevent further destruction.” Mike Waltz, for whatever reason, is not named as a defendant in the suit.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
