Fox News - Signalgate? But Her Emails!

A condensed overview of 23 hours of Fox News for the week ending 3/30/25

Last week Fox News revived its hatred of the network’s favorite Democratic villainess to distract its viewers from Signalgate - the messy and embarrassing scandal involving top military and intelligence government officials discussing an airstrike in Yemen on their personal phones with a reporter privy to their every word.

The National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, somehow accidentally invited the editor-in-chief of ‘The Atlantic’ to this private chat and no one has a good explanation for why it happened.

Hillary Clinton - the ultimate liberal, corrupt, establishment, progressive, uppity, corporatist, doormat wife, scheming Machiavellian, crusher of souls, and wannabe dictator was brought up 18 times last week even though she hasn’t held a position in the United States government since 2013.

Clinton wasn’t the only target for the network’s derision. Fox News producers even created a graphic for “Toxic Democrats,” that appeared prominently on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

Former President Joe Biden’s name appeared in the transcripts 188 times last week mostly in comparison to Signalgate as Fox News hosts were desperate to downplay the fiasco. Sean Hannity especially weaved in examples of Biden’s incompetence as he defended the Defense Secretary’s lack of judgment and recklessness.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) showed up 69 times in the transcripts. Fox portrayed her as a dangerous radical socialist touring the country with Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) as they both plotted the demise of Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

Although both Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders have been critical of the Senate minority leader the congresswoman from New York has made no public moves to challenge him for his Senate seat in 2028.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) appeared 48 times in last week’s transcripts. Most of the coverage surrounding Crockett was centered on a comment she made about Texas Governor Greg Abbot.

The junior Texas congresswoman referred to him as “Governor Hot Wheels.” Crockett later clarified that her remark was a reference to his policy of sending undocumented immigrants to various cities across the country by planes, trains and automobiles.

Other notable Democrats who were hot topics for the network last week were Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, former Vice President Kamala Harris and both Barack and Michelle Obama.

The vandalism at Tesla dealerships remained a major story as did promotion of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficency (DOGE) along with Trump’s conflicts with multiple federal judges who have ruled against his various executive orders and attempts to circumvent the rule of law.

As the war in Ukraine waged on the network tried to pretend that partial ceasefires were working even as they collapsed hours after they were made. The network also largely ignored the escalation in violence in the Gaza Strip and the plight of the remaining hostages taken by Hamas.

Anyone exclusively watching Fox News last week might have missed out on stories about Palestinians in Northern Gaza protesting Hamas, a Supreme Court ruling upholding restrictions on ghost guns and political unrest and attacks on the free press in Turkey.

Shows I covered on Fox last week:

• Fox & Friends

• The Five

• The Ingraham Angle

• Special Report with Bret Baier - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday

• Jesse Watters Primetime - Monday & Tuesday

• Hannity - Monday & Tuesday

War Plans vs. Attack Plans

On Wednesday on “Fox & Friends,” producers included a clip of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaking about Singalgate in Honolulu, Hawaii.

“Nobody's texting more plants cause I know exactly what I'm doing, exactly what we're directing. And I'm really proud of what we accomplished. The successful missions that night and going forward,” said Hegseth.

Later that night on “The PBS News Hour” the network also featured a brief clip of Hegseth from Hawaii. The Defense Secretary was visibly angry as he spoke.

“Nobody's texting or plans. I noticed this morning. Out came something that doesn't look like war plans? And as a matter of fact, they even change the title to attack plans because they know it's not war plans. There's no units, no locations, no routes, no flight paths, no sources, no methods, no classified information,” said Hegseth.

Geoff Bennett, co-anchor of The News Hour, spoke to Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of “The Atlantic,” the journalist who was accidentally invited into the Signal chat.

“So, in a minute and a half, we have left first. How does that strike you? And then secondly, you know, why did ‘The Atlantic’ choose the phrase ‘Attack Plans’ and the headline today, after using the phrase ‘War Plans’ yesterday? Because that's something that the White House and the DoD comms shop were eager to point out today.” asked Bennett.

“Attack plan is actually worse,” answered Goldberg. “War plan actually refers to and I think that for in the vernacular, they're interchangeable. Obviously, this is a plan to use military, vehicles and missiles, and other components of the U.S., military to kill our enemies. The attack plan actually refers to more technical aspects of what is done in an in an attack. A war plan really actually refers more to strategy. So, I changed the word. I mean, we use it interchangeably, in fact. But I change the word because attack plan actually gets to the heart of what Pete Hegseth was doing, which was giving a minute-by-minute countdown of what they were, of what they were hoping to do,” said Goldberg.

He continued.

“But again, that's a sideshow. They are trying to avoid the, the issue at hand, which is that they engaged in a massive security breach. And, and this would not have been discovered had they not accidentally shared their signal channel with me, which is in itself evidence of a massive security breach. So, they can quibble about semantics, but the point is, is that they put information out into the world that they shouldn't be putting out on those channels.”

Fox News Circled its Wagons for the Former Fox News Host

On Thursday Fox News correspondent Charley Painter explained a lawsuit filed against the Trump administration regarding Signalgate.

“A case was filed Wednesday by the government watchdog group American Oversight, alleging that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and others violated federal records laws by discussing Houthi attack plans in a signal group chat,” said Painter.

Hegseth’s former co-workers spun the entire story into some sort of plot to destroy his career.

“I don't think you can blame Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth because there's nothing wrong with the communication. He was told he was secure - end of story,” said Brian Kilmeade.

Lawrence Jones repeated the same talking points.

“It's become very clear that Pete, the secretary of defense, Hegseth is the target of Democrats, and they want him to resign. They want him gone. And he's not even the guy that put the chat together. But he was a target from day one. They never want him to be confirmed. They're only asking him to resign,” said Jones.

Carley Shimkus then brought up Elon Musk.

“We're trying to get to the bottom of this. Elon Musk is going to be doing an investigation into how all of this happened. Don't blame Pete. Somebody said, should he be fired? He didn't do anything wrong. This is a government sanctioned chat app that is secure. And the Biden administration used it. Now we're using it. Maybe we won't anymore because this happened,” said Shimkus.

Musk has no expertise in encrypted mobile apps, but Fox News promotes him as some kind of super genius who can fix anything.

PBS Spoke to Expert on Signal

On Friday “The PBS News Hour” invited Thomas Rid, Professor of Strategic Studies and founding director of the Alperovitch Institute for Cybersecurity Studies at Johns Hopkins University to discuss the security risks of high-ranking government officials using a commercial mobile app.

“Are foreign adversaries able to hack into signal?” asked Lisa Desjardins, PBS Congressional correspondent.

“I think it's important here to be very specific. Technically, the attorney general is correct that so far, we have no, precedent of an adversary ever hacking into, Signal the platform. As far as I'm aware of, however, Signal is sitting on your phone on just commercially available phones like iPhones and Android devices. We have many examples of these phones getting hacked. And of course, we shouldn't assume that high value targets like, for example, the vice president or the secretary of defense or the national security advisor that their phones are targeted by some of the most capable adversaries. So, the phones are vulnerable. Imagine literally somebody looking over my shoulder at my phone. They can see what's in it. And what I'm texting on Signal. And so can somebody remotely reading my screen. That does not mean Signal has been compromised. It means the phone has been compromised. And you can look inside the tunnel at the opening of the tunnel,” said Rid.

The Washington Post described at length how sensitive and classified information is supposed to be discussed on government approved communication channels.

High ranking government officials are trained to use ultra-secure rooms known as SCIFs, or sensitive compartmented information facilities. A SCIF includes multiple layers of protection to ensure no one is eavesdropping or recording any communication inside the SCIF or viewing any classified material.

The size of a SCIF can vary from as small as a phone booth to an entire floor of a building. There are thousands of SCIF’s constructed in government locations throughout Washington D.C. and SCIFs can be built inside personal residences of government officials.

All SCIF locations are constructed and approved by the U.S. government. No cell phones are allowed in a SCIF.

Any communication between government officials including attack plans or war plans should be archived according to the guidelines of the Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF)".

Steve Doocy Doesn’t Know What a Butt Dial Is.

On Wednesday on “Fox & Friends,” Steve Doocy made a joke about Signalgate.

“So, it was a big mistake. So ultimately it was like the ultimate, national security butt dial,” said Doocy.

Normally a “butt dial” refers to a person accidentally making a call by sitting on their phone.

In this case, the National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, accidentally invited a journalist into a discussion about an airstrike on Yemen that included the highest- ranking officials in the military and intelligence communities.

Signalgate was far more than a “butt dial.”

It’s astonishing that no one in the collective chat noticed Golberg’s presence for the duration of the discussion.

Ingraham - Other Private Data of the Same Officials Was Found Online

On Wednesday on “The Ingraham Angle,” Laura Ingraham brought up a story in Der Spiegel while speaking to Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO).

“Der Spiegel is reporting tonight, Senator, that private data, including passwords and phone numbers of senior White House officials, have been found online. Apparently, reporters use commercial people search engines, along with hacked customer data and published on the web. Those affected by the leaks include Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Hegseth, and Waltz himself,” said Ingraham

To quote the article,

“Reporters used commercial people search engines along with hacked customer data that has been published on the web. Those affected by the leaks include National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Most of these numbers and email addresses are apparently still in use, with some of them linked to profiles on social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn. They were used to create Dropbox accounts and profiles in apps that track running data. There are also WhatsApp profiles for the respective phone numbers and even Signal accounts in some cases.”

Schmitt responded.

“Well, look, we're dealing with a dangerous environment where a lot of our adversaries are trying to check, hacker information. China, by the way, with Salt. Typhoon has been, you know, the most recent example during the campaign. So, we got to be aware of it.”

According to Armis.com

“Salt Typhoon is a sophisticated cyber espionage operation orchestrated by a Chinese Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) group, commonly known as Earth Estries, Ghost Emperor, or UNC2286. This state-sponsored actor has been linked to high-profile breaches targeting critical U.S. infrastructure, including major telecommunications providers such as Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Lumen Technologies. The operation’s successes highlight the advanced capabilities and long-term persistence characteristic of well-resourced nation-state-backed threat actors.”

“But shouldn't we just assume that China has all of our communications?” asked Ingraham.

“Yeah, like the like they had all the information on Hunter Biden's laptop,” said Schmitt.

“But we should assume that. But but you guys, I don't I'm saying you guys, but Republicans know this because Republicans have been talking about this regarding Hillary and everyone else. Hillary is obviously a hypocrite. But, you know, Republicans said that China's on it. Russia's on it. Iran's hacking us. So, Trump is the smartest person out there because what did he say yesterday? Everyone should be in the same room.”

Trump and Ingraham should both realize that high ranking government officials should only discuss sensitive or highly classified information in a SCIF. It’s also unrealistic that all officials would be available in the same location at the same time.

I also looked up Pete Hegseth’s address through an inexpensive background check that I was using for another project.

To use the service, I had to sign up for an entire month which included an unlimited amount of searches as part of my subscription.

Since I was researching Hegseth at the time I decided to search his name and his ex-wives along with his current wife’s ex-husband. I easily found Hegseth’s current address along former addressees, email addresses and phone numbers.

I was even able to locate real estate listings for his current and former home that included details that confirmed that I was looking at the correct properties. I was also able to look up the addresses of other relatives and associates of Hegseth.

He had taken no steps to shield any of his personal information. Hegseth could have paid a service to hide this type of information on background check websites.

Most people with a public job, even one that is not in the U.S. government, take steps to hide their personal information online. I use a similar service that only costs about $10 a month that routinely removes my personal information from the internet.

Brian Kilmeade - Migrants Don’t Deserve Due Process

Another major story on Fox News last week was the battle between the Trump administration and a federal judge over Trump’s decision to use The Aliens and Enemies Act of 1789 to deport undocumented immigrants without due process.

On March 17th, the Trump administration transferred hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador even though a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations.

U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg actually ordered the planes carrying the undocumented immigrants to turn around and return to the United States. The Trump administration openly defied the order saying that the planes were no longer in U.S. airspace and the judge did not have jurisdiction.

A federal appeals court denied the Trump administration’s request to lift a temporary restraining order (TRO) blocking them from deporting more immigrants using the Alien Enemies Act.

The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by American Civil Liberties Union, Democracy Forward, and the ACLU of the District of Columbia.

On Tuesday the Trump administration deported an additional 17 alleged gang members to El Salvador despite the court’s ruling.

Last Monday on “Fox & Friends,” Brian Kilmeade showed no respect for the rule of law or the federal courts.

“But I also think it's not practical to think that we can do due process on 8 million people. Now there's 22 million people here, a minimum legal, illegal or already just in the last three administrations. And there were some people that got through with Trump's administration. If we're going to give ever these guys a day in court and a lawyer, we can't do it. They don't deserve it. Our system doesn't need to be double burdened,” said Kilmeade.

Jessica Tarlov Explains Due Process on “The Five”

On Friday Jessica Tarlov, the liberal voice on “The Five,” did her best to try to explain why everyone in the United States, citizens and non-citizens deserve to have due process before they are deported.

“You know, I might be a little too bleeding-heart liberal for the images of it, but I have no problem with people who have committed crimes at the level that those people have, being locked away for the rest of their lives and not having particularly nice conditions. I cannot say that I am enjoying these images the way that some people are, but I understand it as a deterrent to all of this. And if it is being effective that some people who we would hope we be able to arrest here are leaving on their own accord, then that is a good thing. There is still a due process issue here and there are now numerous cases confirmed of people in that mega prison who should not be. We talked earlier in the week about the Venezuelan gay barber who is not in Tren de Aragua, who's in there? There's a Venezuelan married man with a political asylum claim. He has no tattoos. He was sent because of a paperwork error. And there's another man, a 25-year-old who works as a baker in Dallas who had an autism awareness tattoo in honor of his 15-year-old brother. He got detained two times. The first time he was able to speak to an agent and explain what it was. And he said, no, you're clear. He was detained again in Dallas. They did not care, and they have sent him there,” said Tarlov.

Her co-hosts shouted over her.

“We should have the pictures of the victims of these people. And that's real deterrence. So, the American people, and you can see it,” said Judge Jeanine Pirro.

“It, that is not if you are in the process, if you're in the asylum process, you are given certain due process. Oh, yes. You went through a legal port of entry. You were supposed to see a judge, and then you got picked up and sent for an Autism awareness tattoo?” said Tarlov.

“Legal or illegal? Port of entry?” asked Pirro.

“Legal,” said Tarlov.

Stories Fox News Ignored

Every week I compare the hours I’ve watched on Fox News to five hours of the PBS News Hour the following list are stories that PBS covered that Fox News did not. Source - PBS News transcripts.

• There is growing unrest in Turkey. Police have detained more than a thousand people, cracking down on protests and dissent that began after the arrest of one of President Richard Erdogan's main political rivals. Union representatives said that journalists were seized in their homes. Authorities deported a BBC reporter as part of a crackdown on the press. Some of the massive demonstrations, the largest in more than a decade, were met by riot police with water cannons, tear gas and pepper spray. The protesters and opposition see the jailing of Istanbul's mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, as a political ploy to remove him from the next presidential race. (PBS News Hour)

• The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a dispute over redistricting that could reshape how state legislatures draw districts based on race. The case centers on Louisiana's congressional map, which was recently redrawn to include two majority-Black districts for the first time in decades. The new map came after a federal court ruled the state's previous congressional maps discriminated against Black voters in the state. Now, a group of voters who identify themselves as non-African American sued the state, arguing that the map is racially biased towards Black voters. (PBS News Hour)

• PBS produced a segment about how the Trump administration’s freeze of spending on grants for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are negatively affecting U.S. farmers, many of which voted for Donald J. Trump. (PBS News Hour)

• A court has ordered the prominent South Korean based church, known as the Unification Church, to dissolve in Japan. That church has faced scrutiny following the 2022 assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. An investigation revealed ties between the church and Abe's party, the Liberal Democratic Party that spanned decades. The man accused of shooting Abe blamed the church's fundraising practices for bankrupting his family. (PBS News Hour)

• After nearly two years of brutal civil war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, a potential turning point. The army recaptured the presidential palace and the center of the capital city, Khartoum, last week. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Sudan's civil war, and the fighting has triggered the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world, with an estimated 14.6 million people displaced. Both sides are credibly accused of committing war crimes, and the U.S. has accused the paramilitaries of committing a genocide. (PBS News Hour)

• The Supreme Court in Brazil has ordered former President Jair Bolsonaro to stand trial on charges that he attempted a coup to stay in power three years ago. The far right leader, who governed Brazil from 2019 until 2022, will face criminal prosecution for alleged plans that included killing a Supreme Court judge and poisoning his successor, the current president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Prosecutors say the efforts to seize power continued after Lula was sworn in. Pro Bolsonaro rioters storming Brazil's presidential palace and Congress in 2023 was reminiscent of the January 6th attack on the US Capitol. Bolsonaro has denied all wrongdoing and says he's being politically persecuted. (PBS News Hour)

• In the Gaza Strip Palestinians protested against Hamas in a rare show of dissent against the ruling militant group. Hundreds of anti-war demonstrators yelled “Hamas get out,” in a second straight day of protest in northern Gaza. Hamas has violently cracked down on previous shows of opposition, but there was no apparent effort to do so these past few days. In Israel's parliament, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used the protest as evidence to claim that Israel's renewed offensive in Gaza is working. (PBS News Hour)

• Massive wildfires in South Korea have killed at least 24 people and forced almost 30,000 to evacuate. The blazes are some of the worst in the country's history. Officials say close to 5000 firefighters and other personnel are battling at least six active fires in the country's south, fanned by strong winds for days. The fires have scorched nearly 70 square miles, destroying more than 300 structures, including ancient temples dating back to the seventh century. (PBS News Hour)

• The Supreme Court, in a 7 to 2 ruling, upheld Biden era regulations on so-called ghost guns. Those are firearms that can be put together at home with partially assembled kits, making them nearly impossible to trace. Sales of those guns exploded after they came onto the market, and their use in gun crimes rose significantly, too. (PBS News Hour)

• PBS produced a story about Trump voters in Nebraska who lost their jobs working for the federal government. The segment largely consisted with brief interviews with various people in Nebraska from different background. (PBS News Hour)

• Two Democratic former members of the Federal Trade Commission today sued the Trump administration after being fired last week before their terms expired. The independent agency, designed to be bipartisan, protects consumers and enforces antitrust laws. The White House defended the move, saying, “the time was right to let these people go.” (PBS News Hour)

By the Numbers