Global News Podcast
Trump officials accuse journalist of lying after Signal app leak published in full
Thu, 27 Mar 2025
The White House reacts furiously after The Atlantic magazine published all messages about Yemen airstrikes in a Signal app chat between senior security officials. Also: Valerie, the disappearing dog on Kangaroo Island.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic of this episode?
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Valerie Sanderson and in the early hours of Thursday, the 27th of March, these are our main stories. Senior officials in the Trump administration have been grilled in Congress over how planned US airstrikes on Yemen were discussed in a group chat that accidentally included a prominent journalist.
The military leader of Sudan says the army has regained full control of the capital Khartoum after nearly two years of fighting against the rival RSF group. Brazil's Supreme Court says there's enough evidence for the former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro to stand trial for allegedly plotting a coup. Also in this podcast, the dog that went missing on Australia's Kangaroo Island.
She is definitely alive. You don't get too many little Dachshunds running around with pink collars on over here.
We begin in Washington with the continuing row over what some are calling Signalgate, in which sensitive texts discussing planned airstrikes on the Houthis in Yemen were accidentally shared on the Signal messaging app with a journalist. The Trump administration has dismissed the revelation of the leak as a hoax and insisted the chat didn't include any classified information.
Chapter 2: What is 'Signalgate' and why is it controversial?
In response, the editor of the Atlantic magazine, Jeffrey Goldberg, who received the texts, has now published the whole lot, including discussions of specific operational details. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, for a second day, the US House Select Committee on Intelligence grilled top security officials about the leak. The Democratic Representative Jason Crow demanded accountability.
It is completely outrageous to me, completely outrageous to me that the administration officials come before us today with impunity. No acceptance of responsibility. Excuse after excuse after excuse. While we send our men and women downrange to do incredibly difficult, incredibly dangerous things on our behalf. And yet nobody is willing to come to us and say this was wrong.
Chapter 3: Who is Jeffrey Goldberg and why is he involved?
This was a breach of security and we won't do it again.
But the head of US National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, continued to maintain that the messages that had been shared were not classified.
The conversation was candid and sensitive. But as the President National Security Advisor stated, no classified information was shared. There were no sources, methods, locations or war plans that were shared. This was a standard update to the National Security Cabinet.
Die US-Sekretärin Marco Rubio sagt jetzt, dass es ein großer Fehler war, einen Journalisten in die Signal-Chat-Room zu einbringen. Aber die White House hat immer wieder zurückgezogen. Hier ist die Presse-Sekretärin Caroline Leavitt.
I would defer you to the Secretary of Defense's statement he put out this morning. There were various reasons he listed, things that were not included in that messaging thread, that were not classified.
And again, going back to the American public, do you trust the Secretary of Defense, who was nominated for this role, voted by the United States Senate into this role, who has served in combat, honorably served our nation in uniform? Or do you trust Jeffrey Goldberg, who is a registered Democrat and an anti-Trump sensationalist reporter?
I spoke to our senior North America correspondent Gary O'Donoghue, who was in that briefing room.
Es gab einen riesigen Rücktritt von der Pressekretärin Caroline Leavitt in der Briefung. Sie ging wirklich nach dem Journalisten, der im Zentrum war, Jeffrey Goldberg. Sie sprach über ihn als Trump-Hater, als Sensationalist, als Demokrat. Sie versuchte wirklich, so viel wie möglich, ihn zu schmieren. Und das kam auch von einigen anderen, die in diesem Bereich involviert waren.
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of the leaked messages for the Trump administration?
Einige von denen in der Intelligenz-Community waren in diesem Chat. J.D.
Vance, der Vizepräsident, hat das gesagt, wie auch Pete Hexeth, der Verteidigungssekretär, der auch im Zentrum ist, weil in den Botschaften, die von den Atlantikern veröffentlicht wurden, er ist derjenige, der viele Details gibt, die sie immer noch behaupten, dass sie nicht klassifiziert wurden, aber es war um die Waffen, die in den Zeiten von Schrecken genutzt wurden, um ein paar Updates zu geben und was in einer ziemlich live Situation passiert ist.
They are fighting hard on this one and I think there is a reason for that in particular, which is that if they give some ground on one of these individuals, then the questions will keep coming on the others and they simply can't afford to lose a whole swathe of senior national security figures like this.
And how did they come out of the grilling that they got at the House Committee, some of these security chiefs?
Ich meine, es war ein bisschen wie gestern mit dem äquivalenten Senatsgericht. Obwohl Tulsi Gamba, die Direktorin der Nationalen Intelligenz, ihr Ansatz ein bisschen verändern musste, weil diese Botschaften klarly verschiedene Arme erwähnten. Und das ist etwas, was sie gestern ein bisschen ambiguös war, ob sie diesen Detail gesehen hätte. Wiederum, sie, wie John Ratcliffe, der CIA-Direktor,
Das ist ein Kampf der Willen, wenn man so will. Und es wird abhängen, was die Präsidentin's View ist. Es wird immer abhängen, was die Präsidentin's View ist. Bis jetzt steht er bei diesen Menschen. But he doesn't like bad publicity. That's one more thing we know.
And particularly when it detracts from his agenda and his feeling that these first two months have been enormously successful in terms of dominating the news cycle, flooding the zone, as they put it. This stuff does distract from that.
And what's your sense? How damaging is it, do you think, for the Trump administration?
Es sieht nicht gut aus. Es sieht nicht besonders kompetent aus. Es sieht ein bisschen sensationalistisch aus, wenn ich das Wort benutzen kann. Es sieht ein bisschen wie die Jungs und ihre Spiele aus, wenn man sich die Details anschaut. Es war nicht sehr sauber, war es nicht? Es gab viele Leute, die Emojis zurück und zurück sendeten. Wir sprechen hier über Bomben und Missilien fliegen.
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Chapter 5: How does the Yemen conflict impact local and international perspectives?
Und die Kapital ist sehr beschädigt, also gibt es viel Arbeit zu tun. Aber es wird der Armee eine strategische Vorteilung in der Kriege in der Zukunft geben.
But the RSF, it still holds, doesn't it, almost all the Darfur region in western Sudan?
That's right. The RSF has control of that vast region, almost all of it. And it's expected that the focus of the fighting will probably shift there. One of the big battlegrounds there has been the city of Al-Fasher, which is the last capital, the last state capital still there. In the army's control that the RSF still doesn't have.
Just this week, the army was accused of, or the air force was accused of killing dozens, if not hundreds of civilians when it bombed a market in North Darfur. So that is very much still an active battle zone. The war has taken a new turn with what's happened with Khartoum, but it's definitely not over.
Tell us more about civilians, because the UN says this war, which has gone on now for two years, that it's created the world's largest humanitarian crisis.
Yes, more than 12 million people displaced, about millions and millions of people facing an acute hunger crisis, the famine declared in certain parts of the country. Most of this acute humanitarian situation is in areas controlled by the RSF. The army has been reluctant to let aid go through into these areas and the RSF itself has also placed restrictions on it.
Das hat eine wirklich große humanitären Krise erzeugt. Einige dieser Bereiche, die gesagt haben, dass sie Verbrechen haben, sind in verbrechenden Menschenkampfen rund um die Stadt von Al-Fasher. Und sicherlich in Khartoum.
Khartoum war eine der Bereiche, die die UN-Kommission gesagt hat, dass sie bald Verbrechen haben werden, je nachdem, wie sie da kämpfen, je nachdem, wie sie sie besiegen und wie die Verbrechen sind. Also zumindest in Khartoum. It seems that that will be eased now and there will be relief for the people who were either unable or unwilling to leave during the war.
Barbara Pleitascher in Sudan. Brazilians former president Jair Bolsonaro is to go on trial for allegedly plotting a military coup. The Supreme Court has ruled there's enough evidence for the case against Mr. Bolsonaro and seven of his allies to go ahead. He denies trying to block the inauguration of his successor, President Lula, and says he's the victim of political persecution.
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Chapter 6: What is happening in Sudan's ongoing conflict?
For more on the appointment of Istanbul's interim mayor, the BBC's Emily Wither sent us this report on Wednesday from the city.
There have been concerns that the government would nominate an appointee. The head of the opposition, along with city hall staff, have been sleeping in the building since Mr. Imamoglu's detention last Wednesday. With tonight being the holiest of Ramadan, it's expected that protests will be more muted after seven days of large anti-government demonstrations.
The CHP are calling for a large rally in Istanbul on Saturday for Turks to show their support for Mr. Imamoglu and call for early elections.
The US President Donald Trump has announced tariffs on car imports in a move set to fuel tensions with trading partners ahead of further promised levies next week. Since his return to the White House two months ago, Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on imports from major US trading partners, Canada, Mexico and China, as well as a 25% duty on steel and aluminium imports.
But he previously offered car manufacturers a temporary reprieve from the levies affecting North America. Speaking from the White House, this is what President Trump had to say about car tariffs.
What we're going to be doing is a 25% tariff on all cars that are not made in the United States. If they're made in the United States, there's absolutely no tariff. We start off with a 2.5% base, which is what we were at. And we go to 25%. Und im Grunde genommen, wie Sie wissen und wie Sie gesehen haben, nicht so genau wie es sein sollte, weil es eine massive Geschichte ist.
Das Geschäft kommt zurück in die Vereinigten Staaten, damit sie keine Tarife zahlen müssen. Und ich denke auch, weil es am 5. November die Wahl ist, sind sie sehr glücklich.
Against this background could President Trump's trade war provide an unexpected opportunity for Chile. After Norway, the South American country is the biggest producer and exporter of farmed salmon in the world. From Chile, Jane Chambers reports.
Die Salmon-Farming-Industrie hat Südchile geändert, mit Arbeitsplätzen für ca. 86.000 Menschen. Indirekt und direkt. Dies ist Multiexes-Prozessungs-Pflanze in der östlichen Stadt von Puerto Montt. 11 Stunden Fahrt nach Süd von Chilis Städte Santiago. Sie produzieren frische und geschmolzene Salmon.
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Chapter 7: Why is Jair Bolsonaro standing trial?
Und die Zeit ging weiter und Monate und Monate später beginnt sich dieses Hund zu verändern. Where she is, she has an area where she can go to dams and get water. We have a fair bit of wildlife as road kills, the odd dead sheep and things like that.
Obviously the fact that she's kept out of trouble, she certainly looks well fed when I saw her, but as soon as she sees a car or a person, she's just gone. So it's not like you can just sort of chase her down, you'd never catch her. We're in the process of establishing... You must have been in contact with the owners. What was it like when you broke the news to them? They're very excited.
They absolutely love that dog. Jared Caron, Director of the charity Kangala Wildlife Rescue, speaking there to the BBC's James Menendez about Valerie the Dachshund.
And that's it from this Valerie, but there will be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, send us an email. The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag Global News Pod. This edition was mixed by Sid Dundon. The producer was Liam McSheffrey.
The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Valerie Sanderson. Until next time. Bye bye.
On our podcast, Good Bad Billionaire, we explain how the world's billionaires made all their money.
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