Stephen Colbert has reacted to the Signalgate scandal, saying all those responsible should face the consequences of their actions by losing their jobs. The talk show host discussed the incident on Tuesday’s episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Earlier this month, high-level officials in President Donald Trump’s administration accidentally added The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, to a Signal group chat where they discussed an impending military strike in Yemen. Goldberg was updated with the rest of the group members on classified details of the strike, such as information about weapons, war plans, and targets.
Colbert dissected the incident in his show. “Over the last two months, all the worrywarts out there have been running around going, ‘Oh, the Trump administration is evil!’ I don’t think that’s fair. They’re also dumb,” he began his monologue.
Recounting the case for his audience, the comedian explained that Goldberg initially thought the group he was added to was a “hoax.” However, it was the name that convinced him otherwise.
“He got a hint it might be real when he was added to a text chain called Houthi PC small group,” the late-night show host explained. “Turns out it was real and that Houthi is short for who these idiots running our government?” Colbert joked.
The talk show host went ahead to list the members of the group chat, which included national security adviser Michael Waltz, Vice President JD Vance, secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, and White House adviser Stephen Miller.
Colbert said that VP Vance expressed concern about the “messaging” to the public about why they wanted to go ahead with the strike. However, Secretary Hegseth ignored his concern, saying it would “be tough no matter what.” Making a mockery of the exchange, Colbert said, “Really? Because if anything this story proves that messaging is actually too easy for you guys.”
The show host pointed out that posting war plans on Signal, a publicly available app, is not approved by the government for sharing classified information. As a result, the Trump administration may have violated several provisions of the Espionage Act, and Colbert thinks they should suffer.
“All of these people should be fired. Maybe some of them should go to jail.”
He continued, “The only reason we know that they were doing any of this is because they accidentally included a journalist. What else are these merit-based hires posting on? What are they doing? Where else? For all we know, for just $4.99 a month, you might see the launch codes on OnlyFans.”
The TV host noted that when Hegseth was asked about using Signal to share war plans, he answered, “Nobody was texting war plans.” Colbert slammed, “Nobody believes a word you’re saying. That’s all I have to say about that, okay.”
Colbert added that when Trump was asked about the “epic historic national security cluster munch,” he tried to dodge it. Stephen Colbert is the latest among many late-night talk show hosts to discuss the weighty national matter with humor.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has since been sued over the leak, and U.S. District Judge James Boasberg will preside over the case.
