Inside Mike Johnson’s meeting with judiciary hawks over Trump court standoff
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., huddled privately with House Judiciary Committee members on Tuesday afternoon for what was described as a “brainstorming” session on how to take on “activist judges” blocking President Donald Trump’s agenda. The House is scheduled to vote next week on a bill to limit U.S. district judges in ordering nationwide injunctions. But the consensus among Republicans on the committee is that the bill by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., is a good start, but more reform would be needed. “He came to offer his thoughts to the committee and [Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio], about… what’s available to us related to the judges,” Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., told Fox News Digital. “So it was more like a brainstorming kind of thing. No decisions were made.” He said there was also “general” discussion about court funding – as senior Republicans publicly float the idea of using Congress’ appropriations powers to rein in activist judges. WHO IS JAMES BOASBERG, THE US JUDGE AT THE CENTER OF TRUMP’S DEPORTATION EFFORTS? “The purse strings related to the courts – how does that work, what do we have available to us, what don’t we, if we want to have that impact,” Fitzgerald said. “But I mean, nobody spelled out ‘Here’s what we’re going to do when it comes to funding.’” The Wisconsin Republican said the idea of legislating in a fast-tracked appeals process was also floated during the meeting. It’s an idea also backed by his fellow Judiciary member Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., who declined to share details of the meeting with Fox News Digital but said “there’s other solutions” beyond next week’s vote. “I think that it’s worth exploring some sort of expedited appeals process, right? So you can fast-track an appeal if there’s an injunction issue, to the D.C. circuit and ultimately to the Supreme Court,” Kiley said. “I think that’d be another way to approach the problem.” “But yeah, it’s an unfortunate state of affairs when you have someone, whose decisions are very much subject to appeal and reversal, who can keep administration policy in stasis.” A source briefed on the discussion told Fox News Digital that Johnson also signaled to House Judiciary Republicans that he was in close contact with the White House on the GOP judiciary strategy. The source described part of the conversation as a bid to rally Republicans behind the No Rogue Rulings Act, which is expected to get a House-wide vote either Tuesday or Wednesday next week, as of now. Led by Issa, the legislation would force most district court judges to narrow most orders to the most relevant scope, therefore blocking them from pausing Trump’s policies across the U.S. Fitzgerald said part of the discussion with Johnson also focused on legislation to limit the ability of progressive plaintiffs to so-called “judge-shop.” It’s a similar idea to an amendment by Rep. Derek Schmidt, R-Kan., a first-term Republican on the committee, that is already attached to Issa’s bill. “On the forum shopping issue, the amendment I’ve got on the Issa bill addresses that, and makes it more difficult to engage in judge shopping because it requires that any request for a nationwide injunction is properly brought,” Schmidt told Fox News Digital. “It would go to a three-judge panel that’s randomly selected.” ‘WOEFULLY INSUFFICIENT’: US JUDGE REAMS TRUMP ADMIN FOR DAYS-LATE DEPORTATION INFO The Kansas Republican suggested House Judiciary members were interested in looking at what could be long-lasting reform. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “I do think there are other opportunities. And one of the things I think is very important is that – not just on this issue, but more generally – we think…about how we can make long-term, lasting change that will outlast any of us who are serving in office right now and leave the system better than we found it,” he said. Fox News Digital reached out to the speaker’s office and the Judiciary Committee for comment but did not immediately hear back. Jordan is expected to hold a hearing on April 1 examining judicial activism.
Facing possible primary challenge from Trump ally, long-serving senator gets backing of leader Thune
As he gears up for what may potentially be his roughest re-election of his decades-long career, longtime GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas landed the backing of the top Republican in the Senate. “I’ve been honored to work alongside @JohnCornyn—one of the most effective and respected conservative leaders in the country,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune wrote in a social media post on Wednesday. Thune, who topped Cornyn last year in the Senate GOP race to succeed longtime leader Mitch McConnell, emphasized that his one-time rival “was tireless and instrumental in building our majority. We need to keep him in the Senate & in the fight to deliver on President Trump’s agenda.” ONLY ON FOX NEWS: SENATE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN CHAIR REVEALS HOW MANY SEATS HE’S AIMING FOR IN 2026 The Senate Majority Leader’s endorsement came a couple of hours after Cornyn — who previously served six years as the No. 2 Republican in the Senate — officially launched his 2026 re-election campaign, as he bids for a fifth six-year term representing Texas on Capitol Hill. WHAT KEN PAXTON TOLD FOX NEWS ABOUT A POSSIBLE SENATE RUN IN 2026 The backing from Thune, which was widely expected, comes as the 73-year-old Cornyn faces a possible primary challenge from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The conservative and MAGA firebrand who’s an ally of President Donald Trump has repeatedly for a couple of years flirted with taking on Cornyn. “I can’t think of a single thing he’s accomplished for our state or even for the country,” Paxton said in a September 2023 interview on the Fox News Channel. “Somebody needs to step up and run against this guy,” adding, “everything’s on the table for me.” And in a Fox News Digital interview earlier this year, Paxton said that he’s “looking potentially at the U.S. Senate.” TOP POLITICAL HANDICAPPER REVEALS DEMOCRATS’ CHANCES OF WINNING BACK THE SENATE MAJORITY While Paxton is very popular with the conservative base of the party, political strategists note that toppling Cornyn in a GOP primary would likely be a very expensive proposition, and it’s not clear if Paxton could raise the money needed for victory. Paxton has claimed Cornyn does not represent the conservative values of Texans and accused him of not being an ally of Trump. He has also regularly labeled Cornyn a “RINO,” a “Republican in name only” and an insult MAGA and “America First” Republicans have regularly used to criticize more mainstream or establishment members of the GOP. FORMER TRUMP AMBASSADOR EYES SENATE RETURN Cornyn, during the early stages of the 2024 Republican presidential nomination race, had said he would prefer that the GOP take a new direction, which angered Trump. But the senator endorsed Trump in late January of last year, after the then-former president won both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, the first two contests in the Republican White House calendar. Since Trump returned to the White House two months ago, Cornyn has been supportive of the president’s cabinet nominees and agenda. And in the senator’s campaign launch video, the announcer highlights that during Trump’s first term in office, “Texas Sen. John Cornyn had his back.” “Now I’m running for re-election and asking for your support so President Trump and I can pick up where we left off,” Cornyn says to camera in the video. Cornyn is a former state senator, former Texas Supreme Court justice, and former state attorney general, who first won election to the U.S. Senate in 2002. Fox News’ Peter Pinedo contributed to this report
Sudan’s army says it’s taken control of Khartoum as RSF retreat
[unable to retrieve full-text content] Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has arrived in Khartoum and announced that the city “is free”.
NATO chief says four US soldiers dead in Lithuania in training
Lithuania’s military said four US soldiers and a tracked vehicle had gone missing on Tuesday afternoon. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has announced that four missing United States Army soldiers have died in Lithuania during training. Rutte, who told reporters of the deaths of the four on Wednesday, said they were killed in an “incident”, adding that he did not know further details. “This is still early news, so we do not know the details. This is really terrible news and our thoughts are with the families and loved ones,” Rutte said in the Polish capital, Warsaw. Lithuania’s military had said earlier that a search was under way for the four US soldiers and a tracked vehicle which had gone missing on Tuesday afternoon. According to a statement by the US Army, the soldiers had been training near Pabrade in eastern Lithuania near the border with Belarus. “The soldiers, all from 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, were conducting scheduled tactical training at the time of the incident,” the statement read. Adblock test (Why?)
No rest for Gaza’s dead
[unable to retrieve full-text content] Al Jazeera’s investigation unit uncovers unprecedented destruction to cemeteries across Gaza.
Fani Willis ‘thinks she’s above the law,’ says Georgia lawmaker in subpoena fight
A Georgia state subcommittee and its attorney expressed during a hearing Wednesday that having Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis arrested for flouting subpoenas remains an option, though they fell short of saying they’d take that action yet. The Georgia Senate Special Committee on Investigations had its attorney, Josh Belinfante, provide an update on the months of back-and-forth in the courts and with Willis’ lawyers on a subpoena for documents related to her investigation into President Donald Trump for alleged election interference, as well as a second subpoena for her to testify. Willis has been challenging the subpoenas since Sept. 3, 2024, but the court has ruled the subpoenas are lawful. FANI WILLIS ORDERED TO PAY $54K FOR VIOLATING OPEN RECORDS LAWS IN TRUMP CASE Committee Chair Sen. Bill Coswert instructed Belinfante to reach out to Wade’s counsel again and “suggest either a Thursday or Friday at the beginning of the last week of April or the first two weeks of May.” “And if they will agree to a date, then we’ll issue the subpoena, and I think they will honor their word. If not, we’re going to have a whole other problem,” he said. “And same thing on the documents, just say we’ve hit the end of our road. We need them by April 15th. You’ve already agreed to give them to us, and if they say they won’t, we’re going to have to circle back with you.” Sen. Steve Gooch asked what would typically happen if a district attorney, such as Willis, issued a subpoena for someone to show up in court and if that person neglected to appear. “That person could be held in criminal contempt,” Belinfante said. “Arrested?” Gooch asked. To that, the attorney replied, “Could be.” Members, including Sen. Greg Dolezal, stressed that the committee had already been given the runaround as Willis had challenged their subpoenas and the court backed them, then she challenged them again. “The DA has thumbed her nose at this committee, she has thumbed her nose at Georgia’s open record law, and I just have limited confidence that she’s acting in good faith. So I do believe that we may be at the point that we do need to escalate this to the next step,” he said. GEORGIA APPEALS COURT DISQUALIFIES DA FANI WILLIS AND HER TEAM FROM TRUMP ELECTION INTERFERENCE CASE The hearing comes as the Daily Mail obtained photos of Willis and former special prosecutor in the Trump case Nathan Wade traveling together at Los Angeles’ airport. “What is our legal obligation to show deference to her personal travel schedule?” Dolezal said. “There’s not one,” Belifante said. Dolezal said the courts, in a separate open records case, called her office “openly hostile” and “substantially groundless and vexatious.” “I think that we have here is an individual who thinks she’s above the law, and I don’t think that the people of Georgia want this committee to wait for her to decide that she wants to appear based on her travel schedule with Mr. Wade, her travel schedule otherwise,” he said. Belifante said that in December, as repeated judges recused themselves from the case and it was passed to a different county, the committee assured Willis that they would not send the sergeant at arms or consider her in contempt. But months have passed since then. Belifante said Willis’ attorney told him this month her “travel schedule” meant she wouldn’t be available to testify until late April or May. The attorney testified that some of the documents the committee is seeking Willis has already handed over to the U.S. House of Representatives and Court of Appeals, and her counsel has no further legal avenue to appeal the subpoenas. “That has expired and there is no appealable order at this time because we reached [an] agreement with them. There is nothing to appeal on the prior documents subpoena. It is moot because there is that agreement,” Belifante said. “On the witness, we think they’ve waived the argument long ago, and so that time is gone and even then, it would take both superior courts to decide whether to allow an appeal to proceed, but that time is gone. There’s no final order right now.”
Botched late-term abortion spurs lawsuit in blue-state court: ‘Horrific’
An anonymous woman filed a rare medical negligence lawsuit last week against an Illinois abortionist after a late-term abortion took a “horrific” turn when an emergency hospital visit revealed “half of a deceased pre-born human being” was found left inside her. Chicago injury attorney Richard Craig filed the lawsuit on behalf of Jane Doe from Indiana, naming both the Champaign-based Equity Clinic and its founder, Dr. Keith Reisinger-Kindle, as defendants. Craig told Fox News Digital in an interview Thursday he’s “never been presented” with a case like this. DEFUND ‘BIG ABORTION’ INDUSTRY THAT THRIVED UNDER BIDEN, 150 PRO-LIFE GROUPS URGE CONGRESS The suit alleges that during a 22-week abortion performed in April 2023, Reisinger-Kindle left parts of the fetus inside the woman’s body, leading to severe complications. After the procedure, when the woman reported persistent cramping, Reisinger-Kindle allegedly advised her to take over-the-counter pain relievers and laxatives. She later underwent emergency surgery to remove the body parts. Doe is seeking damages for medical negligence and emotional distress. “This is someone who performed an abortion that at 22 weeks of gestation – which at that point renders a two-day process – and then on the second day, when most of the work is done, at the culmination of his work, he entered a note, saying, these are his words, ‘products of conception were visibly inspected and confirmed to be complete,’” Craig said. “That’s his note. Well, clearly that didn’t happen.” “When she presented to the emergency room two days later, they found what they described to be as a half of a pre-deceased fetus,” Craig said. “And the films that are in the records actually suggests more like two-thirds. So, how could he say that he visibly inspected her?” Doe, a mother of four, also alleged that Reisinger-Kindle refused to provide pertinent information to the attending surgeons without her consent. In a medical report included in the lawsuit filings, an obstetrician/gynecologist asserts that Reisinger-Kindle “deviated from a reasonable standard of care” during the abortion by perforating the plaintiff’s uterus and failing to recognize the injury. DOGE MUST ‘DEFUND’ PLANNED PARENTHOOD, MIKE PENCE’S WATCHDOG GROUP URGES MUSK The report also states that Reisinger-Kindle “failed to adequately examine the fetal parts” after the procedure. According to the lawsuit, there was a hole in the woman’s uterus roughly the size of a large coin. The report notes that if Reisinger-Kindle “performed an adequate exam of the remains, it should have been obvious that fetal parts were left behind.” In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade and leaving it up to states to decide on abortion, Illinois has solidified its position as a haven for the procedure, enacting a series of legislative measures to shield both providers and out-of-state women seeking abortion services from lawsuits. FEDS GAVE $700M TO PLANNED PARENTHOOD DURING YEAR OF RECORD ABORTIONS Reisinger-Kindle, who was featured in a Chicago Tribune article, was one of many providers who opened abortion clinics in the Midwest following the high court’s ruling. Craig – who said taking the case won’t make him “any friends in Illinois” – also alleged Reisinger-Kindle didn’t administer any pain-relief medication to the fetus, which would have stopped its heartbeat, prior to its dismemberment. “The current laws would prevent me, for instance, from pursuing a claim against this doctor on behalf of the child for what had to be excruciating pain that the child underwent while he was being dismembered piece by piece, without any pain relief,” Craig said. “And so those laws do, in fact, prevent me, or anybody from taking that position and seeking redress for that on the behalf of the child.” Fox News Digital has reached out to Reisinger-Kindle for comment but did not hear back by time of publication.
Blue state sanctuary laws enabled illegal ‘abolish ICE’ activist to evade capture, says local DA
Colorado District Attorney George Brauchler is speaking out against activist judges and sanctuary policies in his state that he says enabled abolish ICE activist and illegal immigrant Jeanette Vizguerra to evade capture for over a decade, “making a mockery of the rule of law.” Colorado law prohibits local and state law enforcement from working with federal immigration authorities to remove illegals. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Brauchler, who is the district attorney for Colorado’s 23rd District, said the policies being pushed by Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis and the Democratic-controlled legislature have made it so that the state has “embraced illegal immigrants over the laws of the country.” He said the policies have stunted local and state law enforcement’s ability to keep dangerous illegal criminals off the streets. BLUE STATE LEADER SOUNDS ALARM ABOUT ‘PERFECT STORM’ OF DEM IMMIGRATION POLICIES DECIMATING PUBLIC SAFETY “Local law enforcement all say the ‘right’ thing publicly, and that is, ‘Hey, we’re not arms of the federal government. We don’t work for ICE. That’s not why we were hired.’ But they also say behind the scenes, ‘Dang, we have lost the ability to rid this community of the criminal element when we create these kinds of barriers with ICE.’” In the case of Vizguerra, who just won a temporary ruling by a federal judge in Colorado guaranteeing ICE cannot deport her while her case is ongoing, Brauchler said that far-left sentiments in the state allowed U.S. immigration laws to be openly flouted. “Let’s be honest man, Colorado has shifted so far to the pro-illegal immigrant side of things, that it’s created a very permissive environment where you can be here for a long time, be illegal, be even contacted by local law enforcement, and remain free out on the streets,” he said. “So, it’s not a shock to me that there’s a person that is like this in the system.” He noted that he is sympathetic to Vizguerra having to leave after establishing a life and family in Colorado, but said, “We are either going to be a nation and a state that is governed by laws that we hold each other accountable for, or we’re going to be guided by emotion and whatever the politics of the day are.” HOMAN BLASTS BLUE STATE AS REPORT SHOWS IT RELEASING ILLEGALS CHARGED WITH ‘HORRIFIC’ CRIMES ON LOW BAILS “That doesn’t seem to me to be the America that was ever intended and not the one I grew up in,” he went on. “We have to admit that the first step for any person who claims to want to be an American cannot be to violate America’s laws. And she fits that bill.” In addition to the Colorado judge’s ruling, Brauchler also questioned a growing string of other rulings by federal judges inhibiting the Trump administration’s immigration actions across the country. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE He said the decision of “one single district court judge in a handpicked venue by the people that think they’re going to get the outcome that they want, to issue a nationwide ban that freezes the federal government from border to border, coast to coast, seems to me to be abuse of judicial discretion.” He pointed to cases such as D.C. Circuit Court Judge James Boasberg, who recently issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport a group of suspected immigrant gang members. By issuing a temporary restraining order rather than a permanent or temporary injunction, Brauchler said that activist judges guarantee their rulings cannot be appealed, effectively freezing the administration from seeking a review by an appellate court. TRUMP CALLS FOR JUDGE IN DEPORTATION LEGAL BATTLE TO BE IMPEACHED “What judges should do at the federal level is, if they think that something should be enjoined, they should limit that enjoinder to their own jurisdiction and let the rest of this play out across the country,” he said. Turning back to Colorado, Brauchler emphasized that the “bottom line” is “if we don’t like our immigration laws, well by God change them, Congress, and fix them. … But the answer to ‘I disagree with our federal immigration laws’ cannot ever be — for a people that claim to adhere to the rule of law — it cannot ever be, ‘Well, let’s just ignore them or find a way to thwart them by creating barriers between local law enforcement and the feds.’” “Our extreme left-wing progressive legislature, dominated by the Democrat Party out here, has a bill they’re waiting to drop that would prohibit every attorney in the criminal justice system, from the judge to the prosecutor, to the defense attorney, to interns in from law school, in my office — no joke — from sharing any information ever about any individual with ICE.” “That’s where Colorado’s going,” he said. “They’re not making us safer. They’re not making us better. They’re not making us more just. And they’re making a mockery of the rule of law.”
Hegseth says no classified information was shared in Signal group chat: ‘Nobody’s texting war plans’
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth doubled down Wednesday that no war plans or classified information were shared during a Signal group chat of Trump administration officials about possible strikes on Houthi targets, which was mistakenly shared with a journalist. The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, published a story this week detailing the group chat messages, prompting pushback from the administration and calls from Democrats for Hegseth and other defense officials to resign. “Nobody’s texting war plans,” Hegseth said Wednesday before boarding a plane in Hawaii. “I noticed this morning out came something that doesn’t look like war plans. And as a matter of fact, they even changed the title to attack plans because they know it’s not war plans.” TRUMP OFFICIALS ACCIDENTALLY TEXT ATLANTIC JOURNALIST ABOUT MILITARY STRIKES IN APPARENT SECURITY BREACH “There’s no units, no locations, no routes, no flight paths, no sources, no methods, no classified information,” he added, saying no sensitive information was divulged in the chat. Hegseth said he was keeping President Donald Trump’s national security team informed in real time. “My job, as I said, on top of that, everybody’s seen it now,” Hegseth said. “[The] team update is to provide updates in real time – general updates in real time. Keep everybody informed. That’s what I did. That’s my job.” Goldberg said he received a request to join the group chat on the encrypted messaging service Signal on March 11 from what appeared to be National Security Advisor Michael Waltz. Goldberg released screenshots of some of the message exchanges he observed. TRUMP NOT PLANNING TO FIRE WALTZ AFTER NATIONAL SECURITY TEXT CHAIN LEAK He reported that officials were discussing “war plans” but didn’t publish some of the highly sensitive information he saw, including precise information about weapons packages, targets and timing, due to potential threats to national security and military operations. Earlier in the day, Hegseth scolded Goldberg in a post on X, who he said has never “seen a war plan.” “So, let’s me get this straight. The Atlantic released the so-called “war plans” and those “plans” include: No names. No targets. No locations. No units. No routes. No sources. No methods. And no classified information,” he wrote. “Those are some really sh—y war plans.” “This only proves one thing: Jeff Goldberg has never seen a war plan or an “attack plan” (as he now calls it). Not even close,” he added. Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.
Elon Musk tapped to help lead investigation into Signal chat leak: White House
Elon Musk is helping lead the investigation into the Signal chat leak involving top national security leaders and the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, the White House press secretary said Wednesday. “The National Security Council, the White House Counsel’s Office, and also, yes, Elon Musk’s team” will be leading the investigation into the Signal leak, press secretary Karonline Leavitt said during Wednesday’s White House press conference. “Elon Musk has offered to put his technical experts on this, to figure out how this number was inadvertently added to the chat – again, to take responsibility and ensure this can never happen again,” she continued. The Trump administration is facing backlash from Democrats and other critics after the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, revealed in an article published Monday that he was added to a Signal group chat with top national security leaders, including national security advisor Mike Waltz, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. JUDGE FIGHTING TRUMP OVER EL SALVADOR DEPORTATIONS ASSIGNED TO LAWSUIT OVER SIGNAL CHAT LEAK Signal is an encrypted messaging app that operates similarly to texting or making phone calls, but with additional security measures that help ensure communications are kept private to those included in the correspondence. The Atlantic’s initial report characterized the Trump administration as texting “war plans” to one another. The Trump administration has maintained that no classified material was transmitted in the chat, with President Donald Trump defending Waltz amid the fallout. Trump revealed Tuesday that a member of Waltz’s office invited Goldberg to the chat, but did not provide additional information. TRUMP ADMIN DECLARES THE ATLANTIC’S SIGNAL ARTICLE A ‘HOAX’ AFTER IT DROPS ‘WAR PLANS’ RHETORIC Waltz joined Fox News’ “Ingraham Angle” Tuesday, where he took responsibility for the inadvertent addition of Goldberg to the chat, arguing he believed the account belonged to someone else. “I built the group. My job is to make sure everything’s coordinated,” Waltz said. “Of course I didn’t see this loser in the group. It looked like someone else,” Waltz added. “The person I thought was on there was never on there.” Waltz also said during the interview that he had just spoken to Musk about the matter and that the “best technical minds” would look into it. Musk is helping lead the Department of Government Efficiency, which has been poring through federal agencies in search of government overspending, fraud and mismanagement. “If this story proves anything, it proves that Democrats and their propagandists in the mainstream media know how to fabricate, orchestrate and disseminate a misinformation campaign quite well,” Leavitt continued. “And there’s arguably no one in the media who loves manufacturing and pushing hoaxes more than Jeffrey Goldberg.” TRUMP OFFICIALS ACCIDENTALLY TEXT ATLANTIC JOURNALIST ABOUT MILITARY STRIKES IN APPARENT SECURITY BREACH Following Monday’s report in the Atlantic concerning the Signal chat, Goldberg published a Wednesday follow-up story that included messages directly from the chat. The article notably did not characterize the correspondence as “war plans,” instead opting to refer to them as “attack plans” in the headline. The Trump administration responded that the follow-up story proved that there were “no war plans” in the correspondence, taking a victory lap that the story was exposed to be a “hoax.” “The Atlantic has conceded: these were NOT ‘war plans,’” Leavitt posted to X Wednesday morning. “This entire story was another hoax written by a Trump-hater who is well-known for his sensationalist spin.” HEGSETH FENDS OFF REPORTER’S QUESTIONS ABOUT SIGNAL CHAT LEAK Waltz posted to X Wednesday, “No locations. No sources & methods. NO WAR PLANS. Foreign partners had already been notified that strikes were imminent. BOTTOM LINE: President Trump is protecting America and our interests.” A spokesperson for the Atlantic defended that the outlet did expose a “war plan” in its Wednesday report, pointing Fox News Digital to a screenshot included in the piece of Hegseth’s messages related to F-18s and drone strikes that were accompanied by timestamps for the operation. “If this information – particularly the exact times American aircraft were taking off for Yemen – had fallen into the wrong hands in that crucial two-hour period, American pilots and other American personnel could have been exposed to even greater danger than they ordinarily would face,” the report stated. Leavitt said during the press conference that Signal is an “approved app” for government employees, citing that the “CIA has it loaded onto government phones because it is the most secure and efficient way to communicate.”