Speaking during a House judiciary meeting, Florida Democratic Representative Jared Moskowitz mocked national security advisor Michael Waltz for using a strange series of emojis in the leaked group chat now known as "Signalgate."
Amid revelations that Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg was invited into a Signal chat with high-level Trump administration officials, particularly Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, discussing military strategy surrounding war strikes in Yemen, Moskowitz couldn't help but underscore the absurdity within the chat itself.
Before holding up a sign with the emoji combination—consisting of fist bump, American flag, and fire emojis—Moskowitz said:
“It’s always good when we have something bipartisan to point it out because it happens so little around here anymore, but rather than giving a really big, long speech I feel like I could just use this [holding up sign]."
“This will tell you that I think it’s good, right? So, like, that’s a fist, American flag, fire. From now on, when we do things where we agree, I’ll just hold this up rather than giving a really big, long speech. So job well done, guys."
Asked to provide more details, Moskowitz said:
"[This is what we write] When we're in a chat with friends when we're talking about who we're going to bomb and all of that. ... I'm holding this up. I think if we keep the committee shorter, if we agree, we just hold this up.
Asked what would happen if reporters are present in a prospective chat—and in this case there was—Moskowitz replied:
"Well, hopefully they support America and that is fire. ... We can [have a journalist in the chat] but we don't add them if we don't want them to know."
There was scattered laughter throughout Moskowitz's presentation, as you can see in the video below.
People loved Moskowitz's snark.
In remarks earlier today, President Donald Trump shifted the blame for the scandal to an unidentified, "lower level" aide to Waltz, saying, without offering any evidence, that:
“What it was, we believe, is somebody that was on the line with permission, somebody that was with Mike Waltz, worked for Mike Waltz at a lower level, had, I guess, Goldberg's number or called through the app, and somehow this guy ended up on the call."
Trump’s response came after Waltz took “full responsibility” during a television interview for inadvertently allowing journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to access the discussions.
Despite repeated denials from the Trump administration on Tuesday that any sensitive information had been leaked, The Atlantic stood by its reporting, asserting that top officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President J.D. Vance, had discussed key details of the strikes, such as targets and weapons systems.
