(The Center Square) – The White House maintained Wednesday that the Signal chat that mistakenly included the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief about attack plans against the Houthis did not contain classified information. But it went a step further, saying the ensuing scrutiny over the issue was a misinformation campaign peddled by an “anti-Trump hater.”

“The media continues to be focused on a sensationalized story from the failing Atlantic magazine that is falling apart by the hour,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Leavitt went on to reiterate what the administration has said “all along,” that classified information was not included in the messaging thread.

“There were no locations, no sources or methods revealed, and there were certainly no war plans discussed,” Leavitt said in Wednesday’s briefing.

On Monday, The Atlantic broke news of how its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, had mistakenly been included on a text thread between a number of cabinet members and administration higher-ups in the encrypted Signal messaging app. The thread included times of planned attacks against the Yemeni rebel group the Houthis, as well as some of the weapons involved. The administration has admitted it was a mistake but has said no classified information was shared and that it is looking into how it happened.

“Here are the facts. The national security adviser has taken responsibility for this matter, and the National Security Council immediately said alongside the White House counsel’s office that they are looking into how a reporter’s number was inadvertently added to this messaging thread,” Leavitt said.

“There is arguably no one in the media who loves manufacturing and pushing hoaxes more than Jeffrey Goldberg,” Leavitt said, calling him an “anti-Trump hater” and pointing out he is a registered Democrat.

Leavitt blamed Democrats and the media.

“If this story proves anything, it proves that Democrats and their propagandists in the mainstream media know how to fabricate, orchestrate and disseminate a misinformation campaign quite well,” she said.

NBC News’ Peter Alexander challenged Leavitt on the administration’s statement that the texts contained no classified information, referencing how the Department of Defense defines the term. 

“The DOD manual details classified information as ‘significant military plans,’ saying that is secret, that that’s classified,” Alexander said. “So what is it about what Pete Hegseth wrote that makes you say ‘this is not classified?’”

Leavitt responded by saying that she’s simply saying what those involved have said. 

“It’s not just me saying that, Peter, it’s the secretary of defense himself,” Leavitt replied.

Alexander followed up asking if Leavitt would then characterize the messages as “military operation plans.”

“I would characterize this messaging thread as a policy discussion — a sensitive policy discussion, surely – amongst high-level cabinet officials and senior staff,” Leavitt said.

Later, Philip Wegmann of Real Clear Politics asked why it appears those involved may not face serious job repercussions.

“Enlisted soldiers, sailors and marines would face consequences if they shared this type of information inadvertently with a reporter. Can you tell us more why the president is so willing to give Mike Waltz a mulligan here?” Wegmann asked. 

Leavitt said she had answered versions of that question already.

Leavitt attempted to draw attention throughout the briefing to the military’s achievements under the second Trump administration, as well as what the administration sees as the former military failures and Goldberg’s unreliability.

(The Center Square) – Dan Bishop, former congressman from North Carolina and state senator before that, was confirmed 53-45 by the U.S. Senate as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget Wednesday.

Every Republican voted for him; 44 Democrats and one independent did not; and a Democrat and an independent each did not vote.

In a December statement making the nomination, President Donald Trump said, “Dan will implement my cost-cutting and deregulatory agenda across all agencies and root out the weaponized deep state.”

According to the White House website, the Office of Management and Budget has five functions across executive departments and agencies. These include but are not limited to oversight of agency performance; clearance of presidential executive orders; and development and execution of budgets.

“Congratulations to Dan Bishop, my friend, House colleague, and proud North Carolinian, on becoming the deputy director for budget at OMB,” Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., wrote on social media. “I cannot think of a better person for the job.”

Bishop’s confirmation hearing was Feb. 25 before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs led by Chairman Dr. Rand Paul, R-Ky., with Budd introducing him. He was poised when questioned by Democrats, and well-received by Republicans on the panel.

“Our government has been self-absorbed, inefficient, unaccountable, and maladministered,” Bishop said during his confirmation hearing, referring to the national debt of $36 trillion. “The good news is that we can fix all of those things, and if confirmed, I will be laser-focused on doing so, along with Director Russ Vought and the superb public servants at OMB.”

Bishop won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in a 2019 election do-over, was reelected in 2020 and 2022, and this past November lost to Democrat Jeff Jackson in the quest to be attorney general in North Carolina. The difference was just 159,549 votes of more than 5.5 million cast, with Bishop winning 76 of 100 counties and Jackson holding an upper hand in urban areas.

Not voting Wednesday were Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz.

(The Center Square) – The U.S. House Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) subcommittee held a hearing Wednesday where leaders from National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service defended their work, which is partially federally funded.

The hearing comes as the Department of Government Efficiency has hacked away at various parts of the federal government and criticism of the left-leaning national coverage from PBS and NPR, as well as some of its transgenderism coverage, has drawn criticism.

DOGE Subcommittee Chair Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., argued at the hearing that abundance of news offered by the internet has made federal support for radio and television obsolete.

“I know this because I represent a rural district where farmers listen to podcasts and internet based news while they drive their tractors,” Greene said in her opening remarks. “At the same time, NPR and PBS have increasingly become radical, left-wing echo chambers for a narrow audience of mostly wealthy, white, urban liberals and progressives who generally look down on and judge rural America.

“PBS news is not just left-leaning, but it actively uses taxpayer funds to push some of the most radical left positions like featuring a drag queen on the show ‘Let’s Learn,’ a show targeted at young children ages 3 to 8 years old,” she added.

During that episode, a drag queen read a children’s’ book titled, “The hips on the drag queen go ‘swish, swish, swish.‘ “

Greene’s opening statement summed up the ongoing criticism of both NPR and PBS.

PBS’s Frontline documentary in 2015 “Growing up trans” also came up at the hearing.

Greene also pointed out PBS’ negative coverage of Elon Musk and NPR’s tracking of the race of its sources in its coverage.

“In fact, when Elon Musk put his hand over his heart, extended it, and told the American people his heart goes out to them, PBS News posted the clip, called it a fascist Nazi salute, and described how it was similar to the same ‘Heil’ used by Nazis at their victory rallies,” Greene said.

Greene pointed heavily to an editorial from Uri Berliner, a long-time senior editor at NPR, who wrote an opinion piece in 2024 criticizing NPR. Berliner said he noticed a decline in NPR’s quality and began looking into the matter.

Berliner pointed to aggressively anti-Trump coverage as well as nearly entirely Democratic leadership in the D.C. office of the organization.

“In D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans. None.” Berliner wrote.

“So on May 3, 2021, I presented the findings at an all-hands editorial staff meeting,” he continued. “When I suggested we had a diversity problem with a score of 87 Democrats and zero Republicans, the response wasn’t hostile. It was worse. It was met with profound indifference.”

Katherine Maher, chief executive officer and president of NPR, and Paula Kerger, chief executive officer and president of PBS, testified at the hearing.

Maher said she understands the skepticism and that internally the problem is being taken seriously but said NPR should still receive funding because it has Americans’ trust.

NPR boasts 100 million monthly listeners across 1,300 radio stations.

Kerger said PBS reaches 130 million each year via television and 32 million online. She also pointed to Americans’ trust and said smaller stations would be hurt by a loss of funding.

“Public radio is an essential resource for elected officials to speak to their constituents in an era in which nearly all local newspapers have shuttered their Washington bureaus,” she argued in her written testimony.

Democrats on the committee defended NPR and PBS and touted the benefits of public broadcasting, which gives opportunities for programming that wouldn’t make it on private broadcasting. They also took the opportunity to take a range of shots at the Trump administration, from attacking Musk to the latest leak of Houthi strike plans via a Signal group chat.

“The vast majority of the $121 million annual federal appropriation allocated for radio –more than $100 million – goes directly to 386 local noncommercial radio grantees across the nation,” Maher said in her prepared testimony. “This investment enables your local station to raise an average of $7 for every one federal dollar. In places that serve more rural, distributed or lower income communities, that dollar goes even further – public radio is very often the only news service in places where market economics does not support the expense of local news. The entire federal investment in public media averages about $1.60 per person per year.”

PBS said the group and its affiliates receive about $500 million a year from Congress.

“Over seventy percent of CPB’s federal appropriation dollars go directly to support local TV and radio stations,” Kerger said. “Member stations leverage each $1 of federal funding to raise nearly $7 from other sources – a tremendous return on the vital taxpayer investment. The vast majority of public media’s funding comes from individual donors who make contributions directly to their own local member station.”