Signal-gate shows what happens when accountability is broken
The Trump administration is eliminating all official accountability for any potential wrong-doing by the president and his allies.
By Mimi Rocah
With each outrageous action by the Trump administration, I try to step back and look at it through a wider lens because there are few one-offs. They are usually part of a bigger pattern, a throughline connecting many if not all of the “unprecedented” actions or lack of actions we are seeing. The failure of the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation to initiate an investigation of “Signal-gate” is one such example. It cannot be viewed in isolation; it is the fulfillment of the Trump administration's strategy to eliminate official accountability for any potential wrong-doing by President Donald Trump and his allies.
When Trump fired 17 inspectors general as watchdogs from federal agencies just days after taking office, we knew this was one of several steps to eliminate individuals and processes that could hold him accountable. When he appointed partisan individuals to head agencies like the FBI and DOJ—people who have shown more loyalty to him than to their constitutional oaths and those who embraced Trump’s conspiracy theories—it was one of several steps to eliminate individuals and processes that could hold him accountable. When he pardoned those whom he claimed were wrongly prosecuted because their crimes were committed in service to his lies about the 2020 election and when he fired prosecutors who had simply done their jobs prosecuting those cases or who had prosecuted friends of Trump, these were among the many steps to punish and intimidate those who might try to hold his administration accountable and reward those willing to violate norms, ethics, and laws on its behalf. When senior career prosecutors and FBI leadership were fired or demoted and replaced with people more interested in dismantling intel agencies than building them up, we knew it was so that there would be no one left with authority, gravitas, and experience to say, “Hey, this is something we need to investigate.”
When it was revealed that six members of Trump’s Cabinet were texting about imminent military strikes against terrorists in Yemen over a non-secure, unauthorized, civilian messaging app, the danger to U.S. military members and the risk of foreign enemies gaining access to that information and chats were plainly obvious to anyone with common sense. The fact that this was revealed through an apparent accidental addition of a respected and responsible reporter, The Atlantic’s Jefferey Goldberg (who chose not to reveal much of the contents of the chat for fear of endangering methods and sources), was just plain shockingly stupid. Immediate questions about national security came to mind: Was this the first time individuals from this group had engaged in a Signal chat about classified or even sensitive information? If not, what else had they talked about that foreign enemies might now have access to? Had anyone else without the principles of the Atlantic reporter been accidentally invited to past chats and were now blackmailing officials? Were these actions a criminal violation of the Espionage Act? A less serious violation of the Presidential Records Act? Did any of these officials make false statements to Congress when they were testifying in response to questions about this incident?
These are not far-fetched questions, and all are ones to which, at a minimum, we, our government, and the history books should have answered. They demand a thorough investigative process with some kind of compulsive process, such as subpoenas. And, yet, that is not going to happen because this is exactly what Trump and his allies planned and executed: the destruction of the institutions of accountability.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has essentially said that she will not authorize an investigation. She said—without investigating the matter—that the information was not classified and that it was only “inadvertently” released—meaning there was no gross negligence, the legal standard for violations of the Espionage Act. FBI Director Kash Patel has given no indication that he supports an investigation, especially after Trump declared “it’s not really an FBI thing.” This, despite that there have been several investigations by FBI and DOJ of this type of conduct over the years, including ones recently publicly announced by this administration. There is a long history of attorneys general initiating or appointing special counsels to investigate the administrations who appointed them: Janet Reno of the Clintons, FBI Director James Comey (acting for Loretta Lynch) of Hillary Clinton and Merrick Garland of President Joe Biden. Even Trump was investigated by his own FBI in his first term. But that was then, and this is now. That was when AGs and FBI directors at least took seriously the idea that they were meant to be independent to some degree and non-political and provide assurance to the American public that the potential for impartial investigation and accountability exist. Trump and his administration make no such pretense. Nothing to see here; move along.
So, now what? There are two tiny glimmers of light that might ensure at least some reckoning with the truth in this whole incident. The first is a civil lawsuit filed by a watchdog group, American Oversight, and a federal judge’s order that the Signal chat messages be preserved. Of course, Trump and his allies are hard at work trying to eliminate any accountability by civil lawyers or judges. Trump is taking away security clearances, trying to financially penalize lawyers who might take these cases, and threatening and trying to intimidate judges. Though lawsuits filed in federal district courts have been incredibly effective at putting a stop or at least a pause on many of Trump’s illegal policies and proposals, the need for action in the Signal-gate situation is different. Even assuming it can proceed, there will be claims of privilege and national security (ironically) that cannot be overcome without the compulsory criminal process. It is uniquely suited for a fair and objective investigation by law enforcement, not a civil suit.
There would be, in a normal world, the possibility of congressional oversight. But this Congress will clearly not undertake that. We have seen a rare bipartisan call by a top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee for a DOD inspector general inquiry. But I wouldn’t hold my breath for that to happen given that Defense has an acting IG put in place after the former IG was fired.
This dangerous conduct will escape accountability because Trump and his allies have already broken the institutions that could do that.
Mimi Rocah was the district attorney of Westchester County, New York, from 2021 to 2024 and was a federal prosecutor from 2001 to 2017.
I think our allies (or former allies) need to assume that we are now a totally compromised country, with a corrupt and traitorous President who will stop at nothing to gain what he imagines to be power and money. They need to stop sharing any intelligence info and regard us as they do Russia. Europe, and all of the other Nato countries need to put together a plan for Ukraine, without our involvement (Trump is doing great harm by trying to negotiate this with Putin) and put to rest any assumptions that the US is working towards any sort of peace or justice for Ukraine. We are going to have to flounder as a country for the next four years and it is unconscionable that we do more harm to other countries under the guise of sharing information. Until we get a majority of resistance in this country to Trump and his criminally inclined administration, nothing is going to change. In two years we may get back the House and Senate, but unless Congress is willing to actually fight Trump and his actions, we will have to navigate our way back to what we have lost as a nation.
This is what happens when everyone nominated had to pledge loyalty ONLY to a leader. No one else has been nor will be nominated. That is why there is no accountability. Trump voters brought in this despicable personage. Congress voted through these abhorrent nominations. It's not too late for the legislative branch to find whatever backbone there still remains and join the judiciary in halting or stemming the vileness that is spewing out of every government agency.