Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume sharply criticized the Trump administration this week for what he described as “making a mess” of its response to the growing scandal over a Signal group chat involving top national security officials. The chat, which included detailed discussions about a military strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen, was inadvertently shared with a journalist—setting off a firestorm in Washington and beyond.
Hume took to social media platform X on Wednesday to offer his seasoned perspective on how political scandals should be handled. “There are a couple of iron rules when responding to a scandal,” Hume wrote. “One: get the facts out as fast as possible and don’t be afraid to take responsibility. Two: once rule one is taken care of, don’t feed the story.”
According to Hume, the Trump administration is failing on both fronts particularly on the second. He called out the White House for getting entangled in a semantic debate over whether the leaked content constitutes “war plans” or merely operational details. “With regard to the Signal message case, the administration is making a mess of rule two by getting bogged down in a dispute over whether the details of Yemen bombing raids were a war plan and whether those details were, or should have been, classified,” Hume wrote. “All that has done is prolong the story.”
He also criticized the administration for going after Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, who was mistakenly added to the Signal chat. Hume noted that attacking a journalist who was inadvertently looped into a sensitive conversation only backfired. “All attacking him did was give him a reason to release further details from the Signal chat, which appeared to contradict the administration’s claim that no ‘war plans’ were discussed,” he said. “That gave the story at least another day of life.”
Despite the White House’s continued insistence that no classified information was shared pointing to the inclusion of officials like CIA Director John Ratcliffe and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz as evidence of legitimacy newly released messages have undercut those claims. Among the revelations published by The Atlantic were specific details shared by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about the weapons used in the airstrikes earlier this month.
Critics say the administration’s inconsistent messaging, semantic spin, and aggressive posture toward the media have all contributed to keeping the scandal in the headlines. Hume’s remarks are particularly notable given his long-standing ties to conservative media and his typically measured tone making his public scolding of the Trump team all the more significant.
With the story gaining more traction and further leaks not out of the question, the administration’s handling of the Signal chat episode is being widely viewed as a textbook case of how not to contain a crisis and even staunch Trump supporters are beginning to express frustration at how badly the situation is being managed.