Yesterday I posted my feeling about the Group Chat fiasco that had been recently exposed. Read it here: https://seriouslyscott.com/pete-hegseths-group-chat/.

The post was made to illustrate two points:

(1) That mistakes happen, and we should avoid hypocrisy by overreacting to an issue that did not involve classified information as the Republicans did concerning Hillary’s emails back in 2016.
(2) That I was encouraged to see that senior members of the Trump Administration were working together and at least trying to do their jobs properly.

But that was yesterday, and yesterday’s gone ……

Much more information came out yesterday after my 5:00 AM post from multiple sources. It is now VERY apparent that this issue is much more serious issue, and very different from Hillary’s use of a private email server.

Let me explain. First, a little background:

 Hillary’s use of a private email server did not compromise national security. First and foremost, the government has a separate communication system to be used for classified information. This system is NOT based on email at all. (Emails are inherently insecure. Every email must pass through at least FOUR different systems, each of which stores a copy of the email. Back in 2008, most emails were not even encrypted (and still aren’t today). It was because of this redundancy that the government was able to recover virtually every email that had been sent.

 Out of well over 30,000 emails, only a handful contained any information that was potentially classified, and NONE of those emails originated from Hillary. (They were all emails sent TO her, or contained in replies.) When topics were discussed that could have been sensitive, she stated in her emails for the recipients not to include classified information.

 Hillary did not delete ANY emails from her server until AFTER she complied with the subpoena, and then only deleted emails that were personal and not related to her position as Secretary of State. Hillary fully cooperated with the FBI, DOJ, and testified truthfully during Congressional hearings.

 Back in 2008, Hillary was not the first or only high-level official to use a private server. At NO TIME did she deny using the server, or attempt to hide its usage at all.

 At the time this issue arose, Hillary was no longer Secretary of State. She no longer used the private server. In other words, this was no longer a matter of national security.

Now, let’s look at what’s different with the current situation:

 The chat group DID contain classified information. We have seen some of the actual texts, and no one in their right mind would view ANY text sent just hours before an attack that lists targets, exact timing of strikes, aircraft to be used, and other related information as anything but classified.

 This presented a REAL national security issue with immediate potential harm, especially to the pilots flying those missions.

 Intelligence agencies had issued a warning to all top-level Federal employees NOT to use the Signal App for any sensitive information, as it was NOT secure. This warning had gone out just days before this chat happened. The people involved cannot claim that they thought Signal was secure. They KNEW better.

 Several of the people involved in this chat were the SAME ones demanding Hillary face consequences over her email server. They cannot now claim that it’s okay for them to use private servers.

 Pete Hegseth and others directly involved repeatedly LIED about the content of the chats, FALSELY claiming that they did NOT contain classified material when they knew very well that it did. (These are some of the same people that have refused to tell the Judge what time the planes took off to take prisoners to El Salvador. If revealing the timing of a routine transport flight that already happened is a matter of national security, surely the timing of attacks immediately prior to the attacks must be even more critical to national security.)

 In Congressional testimony YESTERDAY, several officials LIED to Congress about the content of the chat messages, claiming that they did NOT contain war plans. THIS IS PERJURY, and is a FELONY.

 One of Signal’s most important features is that it does NOT save ANY messages on central servers, and automatically DELETES EVERY message stored locally within a few weeks at the most. The deletion of government records is not allowed under current law. They were potentially BREAKING THE LAW just by using the Signal App for official communications.

 One of the participants in the Group Chat was LOCATED IN RUSSIA at the time.

 These chats involved people who are still actively serving in the Administration.

The Bottom Line is that we have several of the current top-officials in the Trump Administration who purposely used an App that was they KNEW was INSECURE, and they purposely used it for sending classified information that was critically important at the time it was sent, as is directly discussed impending use of American forces (and the lives of American service men) just hours before deployment.

Even if we look at this in the best light possible, and give them the benefits of any doubts about their motives, it still demonstrates that they are extremely UNQUALIFIED to hold these highest positions of the trust and responsibility in our government. More likely, they KNEW what they were doing, and they simply did not care about national security.