NewsNation host Chris Cuomo warned Democrats on Thursday that demanding President Donald Trump fire Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over new Signal allegations is a politically losing issue.
Hegseth allegedly decided to share sensitive information regarding Houthi rebel attack plans with family members, according to a Sunday New York Times report. Cuomo, on “The Chris Cuomo Project,” said the allegations against Hegseth are potentially harmful, but argued that they lack political weight because the military operation in question succeeded.
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“Here’s what you’re missing when you look at Signal. You can make it seem like it’s a really big deal,” Cuomo said. “‘Holy cow. You’re talking about war plans with people who aren’t vetted on an unsafe communication channel.’ Here is the problem with the analysis. That’s all true, what I just said.”
“But … why? … Because you can screw shit up. You can expose information, make us vulnerable, make troops vulnerable, take away advantage, ruin strategic considerations — right?” he added. “And on and on and on. Here’s the problem with the analysis: Did any of those things happen? No. The attack went off as planned against the Houthis and was successful. That’s the missing piece.”
The Atlantic editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, published a piece in March detailing how he had been mistakenly added to a Signal group chat titled “Houthi PC small group,” with cabinet officials, including Hegseth, where they discussed attack plans. White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes subsequently told the Daily Caller that the “success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our service members or our national security.”
“Hegseth wasn’t paid off. Hegseth wasn’t giving information in a way that compromised people on the ground, that fucked up the operation, that made it not go well, that disputed or distracted from or disturbed the aims and understandings of the administration,” Cuomo said. “That’s why it’s too much heat and not enough light. I know you want the scalp. I know if you hate Trump and hate everybody around him and think Hegseth is the worst person ever chosen as Secretary of Defense, you want him out. It’s not going to happen. Not for something where there is no demonstrable injury to Trump.”
Numerous Democrats have called for Hegseth to resign or for Trump to fire him, while at least two Republicans have, The Hill reported.
“He’s never going to give you the satisfaction of the scalp by going bad on one of his own guys that makes it look like he made a bad choice,” Cuomo continued. “It’s not going to happen. And you shouldn’t force it when you don’t have the high ground. I’m telling you, if it were a Democrat in the same circumstances, you would not be hearing the Democrats saying the same thing.”
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Republished with permission from Daily Caller News Foundation
