Hillary Clinton Torches Trump Officials Over Leaked Military Chat

Former Secretary of State blasts Trump team for risking national security and calls their approach “dumb and dangerous.”

Hillary Clinton didn’t hold back.

In a fiery New York Times op-ed published Friday, the former Secretary of State took aim at the Trump administration over an astonishing security lapse: a leaked group chat where senior Trump officials reportedly discussed military operations — and accidentally included a journalist.

👀 You have got to be kidding me.https://t.co/IhhvFvw6DG pic.twitter.com/bnNG4dGSpI

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 24, 2025

“This isn’t just embarrassing. It’s dangerous,” Clinton wrote. “We’re talking about top officials openly discussing military action in Yemen on a commercial app — and one of them thought a reporter belonged in the thread.”

The chat, conducted on the encrypted app Signal, became public after The Atlantic revealed it had been mistakenly shared with its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg. The revelation sent shockwaves through Washington, raising questions about how a group entrusted with national security could be so reckless.

Clinton: “We knew they didn’t care. But this is worse.”

Clinton, whose own handling of emails was the centerpiece of right-wing outrage during the 2016 election, made no effort to avoid the comparison. But this time, she says, it’s not about hypocrisy — it’s about intelligence.

“It’s not the hypocrisy that bothers me; it’s the stupidity,” she wrote. “We all knew Trump and his team didn’t take federal record-keeping seriously. What’s worse is they’ve now endangered American lives with their carelessness.”

A foreign policy unraveling in real time

In the essay, Clinton dismantled what she called Trump’s “dumb power” approach to foreign policy — a contrast to what she described as the “smart power” she practiced under President Obama.

“Under Trump, America isn’t leading. It’s blundering,” she warned. “Our alliances are weaker, our adversaries emboldened, and our global standing diminished.”

Among the failures she listed: slashing funding to USAID, closing diplomatic missions, and laying off career intelligence staff.

“These moves don’t make us safer — they make us blind and isolated,” she said.

The leak that exposed everything

The leaked messages centered around possible military action in Yemen — a highly sensitive topic given the ongoing humanitarian crisis and complex geopolitical stakes in the region. According to The Atlantic, Goldberg received the messages unexpectedly and immediately alerted officials to the apparent breach.

In response, Trump allies have scrambled to contain the fallout. Officials have insisted no classified information was shared — a claim that’s now under scrutiny by the Senate Armed Services Committee, which has requested a Pentagon watchdog investigation.

An old rivalry reignited

Clinton’s takedown of Trump comes nearly a decade after their bruising 2016 election battle. At the time, Trump repeatedly attacked Clinton over her use of a private email server — a scandal that dominated headlines, despite multiple investigations finding no criminal wrongdoing.

“This is the same crowd that screamed about my emails for years,” Clinton said on X earlier this week. “Now they’re leaking military plans on a group chat with a journalist in it? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

The cost of chaos

In her op-ed, Clinton compared Trump’s chaotic cuts to government efficiency efforts from her husband’s presidency.

“Bill’s administration modernized government with bipartisan support and saved billions,” she wrote. “Trump’s DOGE initiative? It’s not about efficiency. It’s about gutting institutions and hollowing out expertise.”

She concluded with a stark warning: “This isn’t just a political difference. It’s a national security risk.”

White House stays silent

As of Friday morning, the Biden administration had not publicly commented on the leak. Trump allies have continued to downplay the incident, but the damage may already be done — both to national security and the credibility of those who once claimed to be the grown-ups in the room.

What’s next?

With investigations underway and public scrutiny intensifying, Clinton’s message is clear: the Trump era’s legacy isn’t just dysfunction — it’s danger.

And, as she put it, “That’s not just dumb. It’s deadly.”