The Trump administration is making a big mistake by refusing to admit its role in the “Signalgate” scandal, and it’s giving Democrats a powerful weapon. The scandal centers around the inclusion of Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, in a Signal chat where plans for an attack on Yemen were discussed. New polling shows that many Republicans are now deeply concerned about the issue.
On a segment of Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough said the White House is only making things worse by refusing to come clean. Scarborough argued that if Trump simply admitted they messed up, it would quiet the growing calls for accountability.
Scarborough pointed to a new YouGov poll showing that Trump is losing support from Republicans over the issue. “Republicans are even saying, just admit you made a mistake,” Scarborough said. “They didn’t do it, and then an embarrassing situation turned into a really bad one when Jeffrey Goldberg released all the details about the attack launches and times.”
“This isn’t just about [national security adviser] Mike Waltz adding Jeffrey to the conversation,” Scarborough continued. “This is a bigger problem, a serious problem that has 60 percent of Republicans saying this is really bad.”
Scarborough added, “That’s a huge problem for the intelligence community and the Pentagon. Now’s the time for people to step up and fix this.”
Guest Mark Leibovich of The Atlantic also weighed in, saying, “I think Democrats smell blood, and they’re going to keep this going as long as they can.”
Watch the segment below:
