Defending Gabbard and broadening the media critique

Trump’s nominee to lead the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, also reposted some criticism of Goldberg. But notably, he has also posted clips of Gabbard, who he is working for as an adviser while he awaits Senate confirmation, in which she insisted there was no classified information. He has also posted video clips of lawmakers standing behind Hegseth and Waltz.

Kent spoke very minimally in the chat, simply telling the group that if they wished to delay the strikes that there would be another window to proceed in the next month.

He has not limited his anger at the media to attacks on Goldberg. On Wednesday, Kent also reposted criticisms of a CNN reporter who has long been pilloried by figures on the right for her coverage of an incident involving a laptop which belonged to Hunter Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign. That reporter wrote a piece Wednesday quoting former officials saying the contents of Hegseth’s messages detailing the strike were likely classified.

Complaining about the Wall Street Journal
Special envoy Steve Witkoff has largely avoided commenting on the debacle. After all, he only texted once in the chat, sending some emojis to celebrate the successful completion of the strike.

But there’s one exception: He responded to an editorial in The Wall Street Journal that accused him of participating in the Signal chat on a personal device while he was in Russia. He argued he was only using government devices in Russia and did not engage with the chat until he left Russia that same day, pointing to CBS reports about his presence in Russia at the time of the conversation.

“Maybe it is time for media outlets like the Journal to acknowledge when some of their people make serious reporting mistakes like this,” Witkoff wrote on X.

Lashing back at Democrats
Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has also largely avoided commenting on the scandal. Most of his recent posts of X over the past week have been about immigration.

Miller only posted a few times in the chat, mainly to restate the president’s desire to see the strike through. He also offered praise of the strike’s success.

On Wednesday, Miller did repost a conservative commentator accusing Democrats of hypocrisy for turning a blind eye to the Biden administration’s failures of Afghanistan while unfairly calling for Hegseth’s resignation.