WSJ What’s News - Trump Officials Debated War Plans on Unclassified Chat App

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

A.M. Edition for Mar. 25. Group-chat drama roils Washington after senior government officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Peth Segseth, accidentally let a journalist in on sensitive war plans. Plus, Boeing eyes a chance to withdraw from a Biden-era guilty plea deal. WSJ aviation reporter Ben Katz explains how securing more lenient treatment in the case could be crucial for the embattled company’s recovery. And Canadians get cold feet about traveling south of the border. Luke Vargas hosts. Sign up for the WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Group chat drama roils Washington after top officials accidentally led a journalist in on sensitive war plans. This is one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence I have read about in a very, very long time. Plus Boeing eyes a chance to withdraw from a Biden-era guilty plea deal, and Canadians get cold feet about traveling to the U.S. It's Tuesday, March 25th. I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM edition of What's News,

the top headlines and business stories moving your world today. We begin in Washington following revelations that senior national security officials in the Trump administration discussed highly classified war plans to strike Houthi rebels in Yemen using a non-government messaging service and mistakenly included a journalist in the conversation. The chats over the encrypted Signal app included Vice President J.D. Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Security Advisor Mike Walz, and others. The existence of the chats was first reported by The Atlantic, whose editor Jeffrey Goldberg

was inadvertently included in the discussion and a National Security Council spokesman confirmed the authenticity of the messages. Journal National Security correspondent Michael Gordon has more. Signal is a popular app for holding private discussions, but national security experts say that government security procedures do not allow it to be used to convey classified information. The government has its own secure communications channels for that. The subject is likely to come up Tuesday when top Trump administration officials testify

to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Administration officials say President Trump was frustrated by the episode and directed ire at Waltz, though it wasn't immediately clear if he'd move to oust him. Beyond representing a breach of security protocols, the chat exposed policy differences within the administration and candid views about U.S. allies. Vance in particular was skeptical of striking the Houthis, given that little U.S. trade passes through the Suez Canal and that the move would benefit Europe far more, saying quote, I just hate bailing Europe out again.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, both of whom were included in the Signal Chat, are set to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee at 10 a.m. Eastern. We are exclusively reporting that Boeing is looking to withdraw from an earlier agreement to plead guilty in a long-running criminal case that blamed the company for deceiving regulators before two deadly crashes of its 737 MAX jets. According to people familiar with the matter, the aerospace giant is seeking more lenient treatment from the Justice Department after pleading guilty during the Biden administration.

Journal aviation reporter Ben Katz says Boeing is hoping to benefit from the Trump administration's announcement that it's reviewing numerous criminal cases at the DOJ. I don't think that we can really disconnect this from the new administration. Trump's team have indicated that they're open to taking a lighter touch towards white collar enforcement. This would be a very high profile example of that. Boeing clearly sees an opening here to be able to get a slightly more lenient deal in whatever form that takes from the Trump administration. And as Ben explains, avoiding a guilty plea could be crucial for Boeing's recovery. Boeing's case is of course really high profile and could potentially have significant ramifications

on the company. A guilty plea could seriously impose on its ability to do defense work for the US government, which is of course its biggest customer in terms of defense. It could also bar it from doing international defense work, right? And if it can get that leniency, it will be really critical to help alleviate some of the crisis that Boeing is in at the moment. I wouldn't say this is a catch-all that would kind of wipe the slate clean. I mean, Boeing has a lot going through with it. It's facing cases from the families of the victims who died in the crashes.

It's also got a lot of work to do in terms of its own corporate culture and manufacturing. But this would be a really big boon for the company. Boeing and the Justice Department declined to comment. Coming up, Beijing releases employees of U.S. firm Mintz Group as it looks to encourage more foreign investment. Plus, the rest of the day's news after the break. It's so good to see you, Missy. Experience the thrilling new series. He said he killed another woman. Inspired by a true life story. If I don't deal with him, he will never leave us alone. You don't see how the births seemed to him.

Anna Lee Ashford and Dennis Quaid star. I am not responsible for what my dad did. This going how you hoped? Happy Face, new series now streaming exclusively on Paramount+. Happy Face, new series now streaming exclusively on Paramount+. China has released all detained employees of U.S. due diligence firm Mintz Group, marking the end of a two-year saga that unnerved American businesses operating in the country. The detention of five Mintz employees, all Chinese nationals, after a March 2023 raid

of its offices in Beijing, sent shockwaves across foreign businesses. The detention happened as Western companies were already feeling uneasy about operations in China. There had been multiple reports of exit bans of foreign staff, which essentially meant that these people were forbidden from leaving China because they were involved in government investigations and often really opaque ones. And it had introduced a suite of new laws to govern that. Mint, being a due diligence firm and also involved in corporate investigations, basically

represented the possible fate of other foreign companies dealing with data if they too ran afoul of these new rules. That's China tech reporter Lisa Lin, who says the release comes amid a wider push from Beijing to attract foreign investment. It comes at a time when Beijing is launching its own charm offensive to woo Western businesses back to invest in China again as Chinese officials are struggling to kickstart their own economy. Over the past two days, Beijing has held an annual forum which is attended by prominent foreign businessmen and

Chinese leaders. And at that forum, Chinese officials basically touted their country as a force for stability and open trade. Samsung's co-CEO and the head of its consumer electronics business has died from a heart attack with no immediate successor yet named. The news comes amid a slump in business for the South Korean tech giant that leaders have called a crisis. Samsung makes everything from smartphones to washing machines and televisions and is also a major components supplier to other tech firms, but has stumbled during the AI boom, with shares tumbling about

22 percent over the past year. In other market news today, the Conference Board will release its Consumer Confidence Index for March at 10 a.m. Eastern. Two housing market reports are also due out this morning, including the Commerce Department's look at new home sales data for February, and earnings from one-time meme stock GameStop are expected after the market close. Meanwhile, a pair of judges are challenging the president's efforts to deport some Venezuelan migrants, saying they weren't given a meaningful chance to challenge their

designations as gang members before being whisked to a notorious prison in El Salvador. The administration has cited 1798's Alien Enemies Act to rapidly remove alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang. Yesterday, one U.S. District Judge denied an administration request to dissolve his temporary restraining order halting deportations, while a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals judge said there was clear precedent for allowing those designated as enemies of the U.S. to challenge that determination, noting that, quote, Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemies Act than has happened here, end quote. Those comments from Judge Patricia Millett referenced when the law was invoked in the

Second World War. Justice Department lawyer disputed that analogy and called the district court's restraining order an unprecedented intrusion upon the president's war and foreign policy powers. And Canadians are boycotting U.S. travel in response to President Trump's proposed tariffs, aggressive border tactics, and threats of annexation. According to Statistics Canada, Canadians returned from 13 percent fewer trips by air to the U.S. in February than they did a year ago, while land crossings from the U.S. dropped 23 percent.

The decline threatens to upend local U.S. economies, according to the U.S. Travel Association trade group, as even a 10 percent reduction in Canadian travel could mean $2 billion in lost spending and 14,000 job losses. And that's it for What's News for this Tuesday morning. Today's show was produced by Kate Bulevant and Daniel Bach, with supervising producer Sandra Kilhoff, and I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal. We will be back tonight with a new show. Until then, thanks for listening.