Fox’s Lawrence Jones Makes Excuse for Sharing ‘Top Secret’ War Plans on Signal: ‘They All Use It’

Fox & Friends co-host Lawrence Jones defended his friend and ex-colleague, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who appears to have shared top-secret information on a commercial app, Signal.

Trump National Security Adviser Mike Waltz appeared to have accidentally added Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, to a group chat where the Principals Committee – the heads of the top American national security agencies — discussed plans to strike Houthi rebels in Yemen earlier this month.

Goldberg’s report of how he learned about a planned bombing of Houthi rebels in Yemen earlier this month has sent shockwaves through DC, and was described by former Defense Secretary of Leon Panetta as a “very serious mistake” and a “serious blunder” during a Monday afternoon appearance on CNN.

Following a report by Brooke Singman, who concluded by saying, “They are now investigating how the journalist’s number was added to that chain,” Steve Doocy offered, “Well, I read the article, and it says that somebody identifying themselves as Mike Waltz added that person.”

“I was talking to somebody in federal law enforcement last night, and they said that just based on having read the Atlantic article, what was revealed was classified and top secret,” Doocy said. “And this person has been down in DC for many years. has never heard of government officials at that level using signal for stuff like that. And you know, Kayleigh, having been in the White House, there are certain top secret gizmos and venues that they use, and you don’t use a commercial app that can be hacked?

Former Trump Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany replied “Yeah, there’s a channel that you’re supposed to stay on with that kind of information. Now I heard someone on CNN suggesting maybe there were Signal apps added to government devices somehow. All that remains to be seen. But I imagine the White House press shop would have gotten that information out by now if that were the case.”

“Look, this was an obvious mistake,” she continued. “Obviously, I will say, you know, as my dad says, when you eat crow, you got to eat it hot. And the National Security Council ate it while it was hot. They did not try to deny this. They came out. They are wondering about is the Jeffrey Goldberg detail about war plans. He says there were operational details, but he did not want to share them because it would be compromising.“

At this point, Jones defended the Trump administration despite the shocking breach in national security that could have had deadly consequences.

“Sot that’s literally my only question — as it relates to government officials using Signal? They all use it — they’re not supposed to but they use it,” Jones said.

“But not top secret stuff” Doocy countered.

“They use it,” Jones said, suggesting that he’s familiar with officials sending top secret stuff.  “CIA, every single intelligence agency uses Signal. I know that for a fact. I talk to them on Signal — they’re sources of mine — they all use Signal. Uh, it is the best way and the most secure way to get information out and that’s why a lot of journalists use it as well.

Jones appears to be conflating using the commercially encrypted app to leak information with journalists with sharing top secret classified information, which in this instance, seems to have been inadvertently revealed to a journalist.

“They’re not supposed to do it, but they do it anyway,” Jones continued. “I don’t understand how he got on this chain, especially when you add someone to Signal. There’s an alert that shows you that someone else, if you don’t have their contact, there’s someone new that’s been added to it. Why all of those people that were on that chain didn’t say — who is this person that’s on the chain that wasn’t saved in their contact? I don’t know. They need to get to the bottom of that.”

Brian Kilmeade appeared to defend Waltz from a potential ouster after an ostensibly enormous security leak.

“Obviously, to me, it was a mistake. But when I’m reading in Politico that Mike Waltz in trouble, I think that there’s not a chance in heck…” he said trailing off. “The thing that gets you in trouble with President Trump is disloyalty and duplicity, not mistakes — in my view. You work for him, we’ve known him for 20 — I’ve known them for a long time, that’s my view, and if something was gonna happen, they would have brought it up already.”

Watch above via Fox News.