The op-ed in The New York Times called the Signalgate controversy dangerous and “dumb.”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has an assessment of her one-time presidential rival’s administration’s handling of sensitive information: “It’s just dumb.”
Clinton — who faced off against Donald Trump for the presidency in 2016 — lambasted the Signal group chat that revealed plans for the recent strike in Yemen as dangerous and “dumb.”
“It’s not the hypocrisy that bothers me; it’s the stupidity. We’re all shocked — shocked! — that President Trump and his team don’t actually care about protecting classified information or federal record retention laws,” she wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times. “What’s much worse is that top Trump administration officials put our troops in jeopardy by sharing military plans on a commercial messaging app and unwittingly invited a journalist into the chat. That’s dangerous. And it’s just dumb.”
Trump focused on Clinton’s handling of sensitive information in the waning days of the 2016 presidential campaign — the infamous emails that she sent from a private server while working in the State Department. He threatened investigations and prosecution throughout his first term, and many of the officials involved in the Signal thread had sharply criticized Clinton in the past. The Trump administration has blasted Clinton’s emails more aggressively in the wake of Signalgate, arguing that they were a bigger breach.
Clinton’s critique of Trump’s second term went beyond just the Signal scandal, laying into the administration over the mass firing of federal workers, the shuttering of the U.S. Agency for International Development and the retreat from global diplomacy, arguing it was weakening the country on the world stage.
“The Trump approach is dumb power,” she wrote. “Instead of a strong America using all our strengths to lead the world and confront our adversaries, Mr. Trump’s America will be increasingly blind and blundering, feeble and friendless.”
Though they faced off years ago, Trump has moved in the last few months to get retribution against his perceived enemies, stripping security clearances and targeting Clinton’s former lawyer as part of his crackdown on Big Law.
But Clinton’s take on Friday homed in on the looming threat of China filling in where U.S. diplomats have retreated, arguing that “forward-deployed diplomacy” is essential to America’s global standing.
“If this continues, a group chat foul will be the least of our concerns, and all the fist and flag emojis in the world won’t save us,” Clinton wrote.
Hillary Clinton warns Trump ‘stupidity’ will leave US ‘feeble and friendless’
Former presidential candidate writes op-ed excoriating Signal leak and White House’s ‘dangerous’ actions
Hillary Clinton on Friday called the Trump administration’s approach to governing both dumb and dangerous in an essay excoriating the Signal chat scandal and the Elon Musk-led mission to slash the federal workforce, and concluding that Trump would make the US “feeble and friendless”.
The former secretary of state and Democratic presidential candidate wrote an op-ed for the New York Times that has been given the headline: “How much dumber will this get?” and opens: “It’s not the hypocrisy that bothers me; it’s the stupidity.”
Clinton starts with the Signal chat group scandal, when Donald Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, mistakenly added a top US journalist to a small group of government leaders on the encrypted but unclassified app and then the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, proceeded to discuss intricate details of a forthcoming airstrike on Houthi militants in Yemen and report back to the group on the deadly results.
The US vice-president, JD Vance, was included, who took another swipe at European reliance on US military security, and so was the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. Hegseth relayed times that US fighter jets would take off and his updates on death and destruction on the ground elicited triumphant comments and emojis from some others in the group.
Clinton wrote: “Top Trump administration officials put our troops in jeopardy by sharing military plans on a commercial messaging app and unwittingly invited a journalist into the chat. That’s dangerous. And it’s just dumb.”
She went on: “This is the latest in a string of self-inflicted wounds by the new administration that are squandering America’s strength and threatening our national security.”
Clinton sharply criticized the slashing of the federal workforce that has been under way since the first days of the new administration, overseen by the top Trump adviser and tech billionaire Elon Musk, although she did not mention the mogul by name or comment on the growing oligarchy that is alarming many outside the White House.
Clinton especially criticized the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development – a so-called soft power program introduced by John F Kennedy as president to help spread American influence around the world through human rights work, in contrast to military and diplomatic power alone.
“In a dangerous and complex world, it’s not enough to be strong. You must also be smart. As secretary of state during the Obama administration, I argued for smart power, integrating the hard power of our military with the soft power of our diplomacy, development assistance, economic might and cultural influence,” she wrote.
“None of those tools can do the job alone. Together, they make America a superpower. The Trump approach is dumb power. Instead of a strong America using all our strengths to lead the world and confront our adversaries, Mr Trump’s America will be increasingly blind and blundering, feeble and friendless.”
She slammed “swagger” over competence and wisdom in Trump and Hegseth’s attacks on diversity policies in the military and called the administration’s overall approach reckless.
Clinton concluded that the administration appeared not to know its way, was putting the US in danger and mused that perhaps Trump “is in way over his head”.
“If there’s a grand strategy at work here, I don’t know what it is … He’s gambling with the national security of the United States. If this continues, a group chat foul will be the least of our concerns, and all the fist and flag emojis in the world won’t save us,” she said.
Trump pulls security clearances for Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton
“I have determined that it is no longer in the national interest for the following individuals to access classified information,” Trump said in a late Friday memorandum that also included former Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
While the revocations may not have immediate impacts, it is another sign of the growing political rift in Washington as Trump seeks revenge on his perceived enemies.
The memorandum was issued hours after Trump arrived at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf property for the weekend.
Trump also targeted Republican former Representative Liz Cheney, a sharp Trump critic, former Biden White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Fiona Hill, a Russia expert who served on his National Security Council during his first term.
Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer in Washington who represents whistleblowers, and Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican lawmaker who is a sharp Trump critic, were among several others who had their security clearances revoked.
He had already revoked the security clearance for Biden, denying the former president to the traditional access to U.S. intelligence.
Former U.S. presidents have traditionally received intelligence briefings so they can advise incumbent presidents on national security and foreign policy.
In 2021, Biden revoked the security clearance for Trump, who was then a former president.
Reporting by Steve Holland and Jasper Ward; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and William Mallard
US warns French companies they must comply with Trump’s diversity ban
PARIS, March 29 (Reuters) – The Trump administration has written to French companies holding U.S. government contracts ordering them to comply with an executive order banning diversity, equity and inclusion programmes, two people familiar with the matter said.
The companies have been told to confirm their compliance in a separate questionnaire entitled “Certification Regarding Compliance With Applicable Federal Anti-Discrimination Law.” Reuters has seen a copy of the questionnaire.
The documents will raise concerns in European boardrooms that the Trump administration is widening its fight against DEI overseas, at a time U.S. President Donald Trump’s actions on tariffs and security ties have upended trans-Atlantic relations.
French business daily Les Echos, which first reported the existence of the letter late on Friday, said the missive had been sent out to firms by the U.S. embassy in Paris.
“We inform you that Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-based Opportunities, signed by President Trump, applies to all suppliers and service providers of the U.S.
Government, regardless of their nationality and the country in which they operate,” reads the letter, according to a copy that French newspaper Le Figaro published on its website.
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“We would be grateful if you could complete and sign the document in English within five days and return it to us by email. If you do not agree to sign this document, we would appreciate if you could provide detailed reasons, which we will forward to our legal services,” the letter added, with reference to the certification seen by Reuters.
An embassy spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An official close to French Finance Minister Eric Lombard said the matter would be taken up with the U.S. government.
“This practice reflects the values of the new U.S. government. They are not the same as ours. The minister will remind his counterparts in the U.S. government of this,” the official said.
Reuters could not immediately identify which companies had received the letter. Defence and infrastructure companies were among those that risked exposure, media reported.
It was not immediately clear if similar letters and questionnaires had been sent to foreign companies in other European countries.
Trump has sought to eradicate DEI initiatives, which he and other critics say are discriminatory, from the government and private sector.
Reporting by John Irish and Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by Richard Lough, Aidan Lewis, Kirsten Donovan
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