Chatgate: Senator Mark Warner's Shifting Stance on Leaks

The Jeffrey Goldberg affair has inspired a change of heart in high places.

Senator Mark Warner, talking to MSNBC about the “military plans” leak to Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg:

Rachel, I didn’t think this administration could still shock me, but today’s story, which I read about in the Atlantic, was beyond belief. It was like, “Holy crap on steroids!” This is another example of carelessness, sloppiness and a crowd that’s not ready for prime time… My God, if this had been the Democrats, there would be investigations, there would be hearings. We’re gonna have this tomorrow!

This is the same Mark Warner who was Vice-Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee whose head of security, James A. Wolfe, was criminally convicted in 2018 of lying to the FBI about leaking the Carter Page FISA material to a pair of journalists. Warner didn’t invoke shock, crap or steroids in response to that leak, which led to stories calling a former Trump aide an “agent of a foreign power.” In fact, Warner wrote a letter to the judge in Wolfe’s case, Ketanji Brown Jackson, recommending leniency:

While Jim pled guilty to one count of making a false statement to special agents of the FBI, there are no indications that he disclosed classification information, he was not charged with disclosing classified information… Jim has already lost much through these events, to include his career and reputation… justice may still be served through the imposition of probation or community service.

Wolfe ended up getting two months. As a bonus, the Justice Department subpoenaed the Google phones of a huge list of unrelated congressional aides wrongly dragged into the leak probe. That latter group only found out that their private information had been accessed six years later, when Google was finally allowed to tell their customers they’d answered a subpoena.

With the Atlantic tale, the New York Times concluded immediately that the Trump administration didn’t just screw up, but displayed a “vast disregard for the inconveniences that true security requires.” Columnist David French was one of many to call for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s resignation after a “stunning breach of security” that is “one of the most extraordinary stories I’ve ever read.” An Axios headline read, “‘Heads Should Roll’: Congress erupts over stunning intel leak.,” while USA Today, the Guardian, the BBC, Politico, the Independent and many others also went with “stunning.” When I checked this morning’s DNC talking points mailer, it was there:

Walter and I will talk about the case in the next America This Week, but something about this story doesn’t smell right. More to come.