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CNN This Morning

Rep. Dave Min (D-CA) is Interviewed about the Group Chat Fiasco; Consumer Confidence at Lowest Since January 2021; Graham Cluley is Interviewed about the Signal Scandal; Trump Orders DHS and DOGE to Review State Voter Rolls. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired March 26, 2025 - 06:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:26]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The kind of money that's being wasted. And it's a very biased view. You know that better than anybody. And I'd be honored to see it end.

I don't even know what DOGE's recommendation is. I assume their recommendation is to close them up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump backs the push to take away funding from NPR and PBS.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for joining me here on CNN THIS MORNING.

Here's what's happening right now.

The CEOs of PBS and NPR will appear today before Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene's new DOGE subcommittee. She titled the hearing, in part, "anti-American airwaves." In a letter, she accused NPR of being blatantly partisan.

And today marks the one-year anniversary of the devastating bridge collapse in Baltimore that killed six people when a cargo ship hit that bridge. Since then, an NTSB investigation revealed that 68 bridges in the U.S. need to be checked to see if they're at risk for being in a similar situation.

And rebels in Yemen are claiming the U.S. has now carried out 17 additional airstrikes that happened overnight. The U.S. has not confirmed this. The U.S. military has shared video of previous attacks launched from aircraft carriers.

Those attacks on the Houthi rebels are also, of course, at the center of this national security firestorm in Washington after they were mistakenly leaked to a reporter before they were carried out. The Trump administration vows to investigate how a journalist was invited to a group chat involving some of the highest-ranking national security officials.

But will Congress conduct its own review? Some lawmakers want more answers on what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): It's not OK. And any member of Congress, particularly ones that are on important committees, or sensitive committees like Armed Services or Intelligence or Foreign Relations, knows that it's not OK.

SEN. ANGUS KING (I-ME): They should have been more careful about it. It would be funny if it weren't so damn serious.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a lot more things we should know.

SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R-SD): Bottom line is, is I think they made an error. And I'm not sure that this episode is over with yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Joining me now to discuss, Democratic Congressman Dave Min of California.

Congressman, thank you for being here this morning.

REP. DAVE MIN (D-CA): Thanks so much for having me.

CORNISH: One thing I notice in those clips, mostly senators talking about looking into it. You are in the House on the Oversight Committee. What are you hearing from Republicans about whether they think this actually deems more conversation, more actual investigation?

MIN: We're hearing nothing on Oversight. And this is something I continually point out in our Oversight committees. We have focused on lab rats. We've focused on sanctuary city policies. You just heard Marjorie Taylor Greene is going to be focusing on NPR. This is not something -these are not things that my constituents are talking about.

I've - I've had tens of thousands of people reach out to my office. They're deeply concerned about the rule of law. They're deeply concerned about the - this egregious breach of national security that we - we are witnessing right now. But we're not hearing oversight. Our oversight - Republicans actually commit to actually wanting to do any oversight.

CORNISH: In the meantime, President Trump says that he actually asked Waltz, this is the person who people believe actually admitted the reporter to the group chat, to immediately look into what's happened. So, I don't know what that look into - what that means in terms of investigation. But here's what Waltz told Fox last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE WALTZ, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: It's embarrassing, yes. We're going to get to the bottom of it. We have - I just talked to Elon on the way here. We've got the best technical minds looking at how this happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, we have the best technical mind, possibly on texting.

Can you talk about what the White House is saying about this?

MIN: Yes.

CORNISH: Because we've also heard, even today from other reporters, like, this - it's not necessarily the information that was so egregious. It's not so clear how serious this is. And are Democrats going to spend their time saying, look, we really need to talk about an app for the next six months?

MIN: Look, I use Signal all the time. And I can answer the question here of how Jeffrey Goldberg was included. It's because Hegseth and others put him on the chain. There's no breach here. There's no hack.

And so, I can't - I don't want to say anything that's already been said. I know people have talked about the incompetence of this administration across the board, the incompetence of having this person be part of this group. And that's what happens when you hire people based on a reality show set of criteria. The federal government is not a reality show.

But the thing I really want to talk about, I'm a former law professor. I started my career prosecuting corporate fraud at the SEC. And what is egregious to me is this - the sheer lawlessness of this administration across the board, whether it's shredding documents at USAID, whether it's Elon Musk illegally taking over our ID at Treasury and IRS, whether it's this episode.

[06:35:08]

Why were they on Signal in the first place? Why were they not on a secure federal channel? And the obvious answer here is that they were trying to avoid scrutiny, trying to avoid transparency, and trying to shirk and avoid federal law, including the Freedom of Information Act. That is the real (INAUDIBLE).

CORNISH: So, you're referring to the fact that, of course, in these messaging apps, a lot of them are timed to disappear at a certain point.

MIN: And my understanding is, it was supposed to be one week disappearing.

CORNISH: Right.

MIN: Why are they on this app, which is not secure? Why is one of them in Russia? What information, besides this, is being shared right now over Signal on disappearing messages?

CORNISH: But you're - you're asking a lot of questions that it sounds like will not come up in a House Oversight Committee hearing.

MIN: Unfortunately, the Oversight Committee is not doing real oversight.

CORNISH: We mentioned Elon Musk. He and members of his Department of Government Efficiency, they're actually set to give an interview later today. You - obviously, you have a bill already about DOGE and accusing it of abuses of power. But what do you think he needs to say to the public today, or that these members need to say?

MIN: Yes. So, my bill is the BAD DOGE Act, the Bolstering American Democracy and Demanding Oversight in Government Ethics Act, which would repeal DOGE.

But here's the problem, DOGE is not actually a government agency.

CORNISH: So, today, if he's on -

MIN: Yes.

CORNISH: Because he's going to be on TV -

MIN: Yes.

CORNISH: Saying, this is what we're doing -

MIN: Yes.

CORNISH: We're tackling waste, fraud and abuse. And people who complain about that -

MIN: Yes.

CORNISH: Are defending the status quo.

MIN: Yes. So, why are you ending entire departments and agencies? That's not efficient. It's not efficient to fire tons of Social Security personnel, make it more difficult for seniors to get their Social Security benefits.

What we're seeing, though - the real question I think Elon Musk needs to answer is, what is his exact role and what are his conflicts of interest? Again, topics that House Republicans refuse to address. He's been described as a special government employee. If you look up that definition of what that is, it's someone who is supposed to be a temporary consultant or advisor. Instead, Elon Musk is exerting powers that are greater than the president of the United States. He's frequently breaking the law in the Constitution.

CORNISH: And this is what's being challenged in the court, right?

MIN: That - that is right.

CORNISH: Trying to understand the nature of his role.

MIN: And they're losing in the courts. And that's why House Republicans, instead of standing up as a co-equal branch of government, the - congressional Republicans are attacking the judiciary, trying to impeach judges. We are not supposed to be lapdogs for the president of the United States.

CORNISH: I want to ask one more question, because Donald Trump actually signed an executive order tasking DOGE to now look at state voter rolls. This, obviously, looking for foreign nationals.

I know that California actually enacted a bill that you authorized that prevents cities from requiring IDs at polling places.

MIN: Yes.

CORNISH: It seems like this is going to be on a collision course with federal law. This is happening with sanctuary cities. This was happening with other things. So, what is - is - are you preparing for a fight? Like, what's the conversation?

MIN: So - so, the bill I passed would prevent cities, as you mentioned, from passing their own unique voter ID requirements. The idea being that the state should have its own uniform policies. And I continually asked Huntington Beach, which was the source of this problem, they tried to pass their own voter ID requirements, based on the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen. I said, show me any evidence that there's any voter fraud, and I will -

CORNISH: But are those kinds of laws on - going to be at crosshairs with the Trump administration and its push -

MIN: Yes.

CORNISH: To put in place long-time voter ID rules -

MIN: Yes.

CORNISH: That, we should say, a Pew poll found 81 percent of Americans support -

MIN: Yes.

CORNISH: Requiring an ID to vote.

MIN: Yes. No, and so what I'm saying is, is that we - this needs to be done by the legislature, not by the president, not by cities. It needs to be done by Congress. And if Congress wants to pass a voter ID requirement, we can talk about the pros and cons of that, but it shouldn't be based on false, baseless conspiracies of - of voter fraud that aren't - isn't happening.

This is a solution in search of a problem that doesn't exist. And - and that is the problem right now. And Donald Trump cannot pass these types of executive orders. Those powers belong with Congress. And that's the alarm bell that I've been ringing, that every time Donald Trump tries to do an executive order and - and pass legislation effectively, he is stealing Congress' authority. But Congress refuses to stand up for our rights.

And my kids know this. We're taught in elementary school in California that only Congress has the power to make laws and to appropriate money. And that's really the issue here, is that Donald Trump and Elon Musk keep trying to steal away those powers, and Congress is rolling over and letting them do that.

CORNISH: All right, Congressman, thank you so much for being here.

MIN: Thank you, Audie. Appreciate it.

CORNISH: Appreciate it.

All right, straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, an inside look at that app everybody's talking about. How easy is it to hack, and who else might have been monitoring that now infamous group chat?

And the state of Florida working on a plan to replace deported migrant workers with children.

More from the group chat after this.

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[06:43:55]

CORNISH: OK, I want to turn here to the news at home, because I know when you go to the grocery store right now you don't know how much you're going to end up spending.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are the prices coming down, or did I just go to the store on good days?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: $1.58 for a little pack of tuna. $1.58. Our struggle meals need to have struggle meals at this point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It seems like the egg prices finally went down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can get milk, but you can't afford the cereal. You want to make spaghetti, but you can only afford the noodles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK, so that kind of uncertainty is leading to sharp drop in consumer confidence this month. And it's hitting the lowest level since January 2021, when the country, frankly, was reeling from the effects of the pandemic.

So, I want to bring this back to the group chat because, you know, you can get through all kinds of political problems and scandals if the economy is doing good, or at least if people think it is. And what we are seeing there is the reality of kind of how people are thinking about it.

Massimo.

MASSIMO CALABRESI, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "TIME": This is going to be the ultimate story of the Trump administration. The forces that brought Trump to power are bigger than he can address on his own.

[06:45:02]

These are global economic forces that have been at work for a long time. How the public ends up feeling about the economy is going to be a lot more important.

CORNISH: Exactly. Because catch - I mean "struggle meals" is going to catch on, Margaret. Like, I'm sorry. I'm going to hear that again.

MARGARET TALEV, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY, JOURNALISM AND CITIZENSHIP, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: Look, the struggle meal needs a struggle meal.

CORNISH: Yes, struggle meals are real.

TALEV: Like, OK, that's clever for TikTok. But I do think that some of this is fear about tariffs, as well as price on the ground. It's not just anxiety about the moment now, it's anxiety about the moments in the weeks to come because you had many voters who voted for the president, not because they liked his other policies, but because they wanted economic relief and they thought he had a better ability to do it.

CORNISH: Yes.

TALEV: I think, politically, there's a different question, which is, if you bake in a lot of this anxiety now, does it burn off in time for the midterms or does it get worse? We don't know the answer to that yet, but right now there are, you know, a lot of Americans who are, like, when are the prices going to come down?

CORNISH: Yes, and - and I like your -

TALEV: And this is the worst since the inflationary period.

CORNISH: Oh, that's a good point. Although I also like that you said bacon burn. So, that's - that's also where this could go, Kevin.

TALEV: Yes.

KEVIN FREY, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, SPECTRUM NEWS NY1: Exactly. I mean that's a good point. And that's one of the questions I have, particularly with how Democrats have been messaging this over the past couple months. They have seemingly - their main takeaway, Congressman Jeffries, Senator Schumer has been that - the - the 2024 election was about the economy and so we need to message on saying, essentially, Trump is doing nothing to help the middle class voter.

And so, at least in the short term, it seems that bet is paying off, that the consumer sentiment is going down. This plays right into what Democrats want a message on.

CORNISH: And want to talk about going into the midterm election.

FREY: Exactly. The question is, as Margaret just touched on, is, if this all changes on a dime in the next year, that completely undermines their messaging heading into the midterms.

CORNISH: Yes. And one thing I'm thinking about is there is a new caucus announced their presence, the New Economic Patriots, Democrats in the House. And clearly this conversation about focusing on the economy is only heating up for the party.

All right, group chat, I want you to stay with us. We have a few more people we want to talk about.

And if you're sick of hearing about the Signal app, I get it but here's what you need to know about how it works.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JIMMY FALLON": Trump said it'll never happen again. And from now on they'll only talk about war plans over Snapchat.

It's here and then, boom, it's gone. It's gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: We're going to talk about what we don't know this morning, why the nation's top intelligence officials chose to use the app to discuss a military strike, and how journalist Jeffrey Goldberg of "The Atlantic" somehow got invited to participate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE WALTZ, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I don't know this guy. I know him by his horrible reputation. And he really is a bottom scum of journalists. And I know him in the sense that he hates the president. But I don't text him. He wasn't on my phone. And we're going to figure out how this happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: To help us out, Graham Cluley, co-host of the "Smashing Security" podcast, speaking to us from London. He's a cybersecurity expert.

So, first, the basics. Can you break into somebody else's chat group?

GRAHAM CLULEY, CO-HOST, "SMASHING SECURITY" PODCAST: Well, not really. Not - not the way that the - this journalist has been accused of doing it. No, you get invited to a chat group. So, someone who's already in it adds you to a chat group.

But once that has happened, of course, the messages are being sent to someone's phone. So, if their phones are hacked, then their messages could be read in the future. So, Signal is what we call an end to end encrypted messaging app, which means, in transit, the messages are encrypted. But once they reach the phone, obviously they're decrypted, because otherwise you wouldn't be able to read them yourself.

CORNISH: Yes. So, that brings us to the next point. Two of the people in the chat, one was in Russia, one was in Moscow, one was in Asia at the time it was happening. So, how likely is it that either of those nations, or any other foreign adversary, was monitoring this traffic?

CLULEY: We - we don't know if they would have been. Obviously, if they had the opportunity, they absolutely would have done. But it - why would you expose yourself to that kind of risk?

I mean there are government-approved secure messaging systems where these sort of communications should be happening. You shouldn't be using an off the rack messaging service. You shouldn't be using Snapchat, you shouldn't be using WhatsApp, you shouldn't be using Signal if you are communicating at this kind of level about this kind of serious thing.

CORNISH: I'm glad you put this in the context of Snapchat and, like, all the other things that are out there. People perceive Signal to be more secure. And you've described some of the ways it is. But can you talk about - like, what are the ways to use it? How vulnerable is it? I mean, is this something the average person is using or just national security officials?

CLULEY: Oh, absolutely. So, Signal is something which millions and millions of people use around the world. I use it every day myself. It's a great, secure messaging app.

[06:50:02]

That doesn't mean you have 100 percent security. It doesn't mean that anything you write on it will never be seen by the wrong people because, of course, someone else's device could be stolen, their password could be cracked, your message could be viewed.

I certainly would rate it higher than the likes of WhatsApp and Snapchat. It's better than those. But it isn't something which governments should be using. In fact, under legislation and regulation, you shouldn't be - any government employee shouldn't be using an app like that to communicate about government business because it's not being properly logged. It's not being audited. You don't have the transparency there. So, I believe the regulations are that if anyone who's using that for government business is supposed to forward any messages to their business account.

But I would say, why are you using Signal in the first place? It's great for you or me. If we want to have a chit chat or tell our partner what to go and pick up at the supermarket. It isn't great if you want proper security. There are proper secure systems in place for government officials to use.

CORNISH: Graham Cluley, co-host of the "Smashing Security" podcast. Thank you so much. CLULEY: Thank you.

CORNISH: It's now 50 minutes past the hour. I want to give you your morning roundup. The last of the stories you need to get your day going.

Russia is now adding new demands before accepting a U.S. brokered ceasefire with Ukraine. The White House announced an agreement on Tuesday between the two sides to stop using force in the Black Sea. Now Russia is saying they will only stop when certain sanctions are lifted.

And someone with a confirmed case of the measles traveled to Washington, D.C., on a south bound Amtrak train that typically stops in multiple cities, including Boston, New York and Philadelphia. This was back on March 19th. D.C.'s health department did not specify where this person boarded the train, but they visited several places while in D.C.

And Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is supporting a bill that would allow children as young as 14 - as young as 14 to work overnight shifts on school days. Right now they cannot work past 11:00 p.m. in Florida. This comes as the state cracked down on employers hiring undocumented immigrants for low wage jobs.

And if you think back to the early 2000, the first "Harry Potter" movie came out, Alicia Keys' "Fallen" was topping the charts, and Napster was in its heyday. Well, Napster has now been sold for $207 million to a tech startup. Here are the co-founders discussing their vision when they launched Napster all those years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN PARKER, NAPSTER CO-FOUNDER: People will pay to receive music to their cell phones or their portable devices, to - however music is pumped or piped into the home digitally. Those - that will be monetized.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK, so the plan is to transform Napster today into a platform where artists can connect directly with fans.

President Trump wants DOGE to turn its attention to voters. He signed a new order saying DOGE will work with Homeland Security to review state voting rules, to identify foreign nationals. That list would be turned over to state and local election officials. But DOGE's role in the government isn't sitting all that well with some voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to talk about Elon. We know that he's an unelected, unconfirmed billionaire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you willing to use your subpoena power to act and say Trump - or sorry, Musk, come in here, stand in front of Congress and answer some hard questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elon Musk does have a security clearance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, he does not!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK, critics fear that this new DOGE and Homeland Security review could lead to voter roll purges. And is that a legitimate concern?

I want to turn now to our group to talk a little bit more about this.

And, Kevin, for you, it's interesting that voters are now very explicitly wanting to talk about Elon Musk and wanting to talk about his role. He's supposed to give an interview later today. What's your sense of kind of like where this conversation is going?

FREY: I mean, it's extraordinary to me how much Musk has really been able to kind of cut through the public zeitgeist. And clearly this is connecting, and I'm sure Margaret can say from some of her focus groups, with the public.

CORNISH: Well, I mean, heading Twitter helps, right?

FREY: Exactly. Exactly.

CORNISH: Like, he has his hand on that lever.

FREY: But this is something that is, I think, tangible for voters that they can sense that, oh, he's messing around.

I think the question is, and, one, look, this gets to the whole debate of states versus federal rights. And technically the elections are run by the states. And Republicans traditionally like federalism and don't like to be superimposing their beliefs on the states. But on top of this, if DOGE does go messing around in voter rolls, Musk himself has admitted that mistakes will be made. So, which mistakes will be made in identifying who is a citizen, who is not, who should be voting, who is not, so on and so forth.

[06:55:01]

CORNISH: Yes.

TALEV: Yes. I think the waste, fraud and abuse argument that - that really resonates with some voters is one thing when you're talking about government operations, it's another thing when you're talking about the potential to disenfranchised voters, right?

FREY: Yes.

CORNISH: But I think so much of the argument for so many years on the right has been, there is fraud on the voter rolls. That there is stuff to be found. And doesn't it then fall under that umbrella? Is it all that shocking, I think, to bring DOGE in? TALEV: Well, I - that's the argument. But then there's the reality,

which is that there's no evidence that this is a problem that requires a solution like this. And there is real concern among voting rights advocates that this is actually an effort to make it harder for many people to vote. So, you're going to see litigation. Colorado has already signaled they're going to litigate. But what the president is talking about here is tying federal funding to states that fight this. So, then you're going to see battles for pressure on states to accept it or be willing to negotiate or something.

CORNISH: Right.

TALEV: It's -

CALABRESI: It fits into the - it fits into the whole playbook of this administration, which is, a lot of this may end up being illegal. The EO may be thrown out in court, but that will be months from now. They'll be in there purging voter rolls, maybe in a targeted way, that has a political dimension. And it, you know, the impact will be, especially in states where the election is decided by a few thousand votes, could make a huge difference.

CORNISH: And in the meantime, I wonder, states can't fight everything. You have these Democratic Party AGs who are launching lawsuits in a variety of directions. And I know earlier in this process we were talking about an administration that, quote/unquote, floods the zone.

So, is this the kind of story what happens with voters, our data, the kind of thing that gets lost in the sauce?

TALEV: Yes, I think - well, there's other privacy concerns. That's also a really interesting question, which is are - are the parameters of this being set up in a way to protect people's information and privacy and the ability to preserve voters rights to go vote.

CORNISH: But it's like the deluge of news, right? And this becomes just like a blip, the idea of like something that could really reshape federal elections.

TALEV: But I will say that one of the things that we have seen in a lot of these focus groups is they're really - the way voters feel about these issues does depend on where they get their news.

CORNISH: Yes.

TALEV: And if you're getting a lot of your news from social media and you feel like there must be waste in the system because that must be why your taxes are so high, you are not necessarily going to be alarmed by this.

CORNISH: Yes.

TALEV: Because you're going to think, well, there's problems with voting. We should fix it.

CORNISH: And we saw that with the Biden administration, the way they talked about protecting democracy.

FREY: Right. And so - and - and Biden received a fair amount of flack during the midterms when he used that as kind of his messaging device.

I think one of the things I was told by one historian was, when it comes to talking about democracy, that's a great, you know, 30,000- foot concept, but you have to talk about what the tangible impact is on voters. So, it's not tied to -

CORNISH: Right. Not as easy to understand as struggle meals.

FREY: Correct. Exactly.

CORNISH: Yes. A much, much easier thing to think about.

FREY: Struggle meals, abortion rights, other things like that that people can connect with.

CORNISH: Yes.

TALEV: But voters are going to have to be vigilant. Like, if - if voting to you is important in these midterms, and you think you may be targeted by this in some way, you do need to make sure that your voter registration is up to date. Like, people are going to have to do their own work to make sure that their right to express their opinion at the polls is protected in the next elections, whatever your partisan affiliation is, or whichever candidate you want to vote for. If you want to vote and you think you're registered to vote, you should make sure with enough time to correct any issues that happen.

FREY: Democracy requires work.

CORNISH: All right, speaking of which, I want to ask you guys what you're keeping an eye on today or in the days ahead. Things that you think we might miss in the overall news, or just things you think you're - you're listening for certain comments.

And, Massimo, I want to start with you.

CALABRESI: So, on tariffs and the economy, there's legislation moving to revoke China's most favored nation status. Huge game for the future of the international economy.

CORNISH: I'm surprised they still had it, honestly, given the environment here.

CALABRESI: Yes. All the signals from both parties, are they going to do away with it?

CORNISH: Yes.

CALABRESI: Enormous amount of money at stake in how that washes out on the other side, both Trump's recommendations when they come out in early April, and how Congress incorporates that. So, there's a ton of work being done in Washington to game that.

CORNISH: Margaret, what should we keep an eye on?

TALEV: I'm watching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and kind of how he navigates -

CORNISH: He's in Hawaii, I think, right now, yes?

FREY: Yes.

CORNISH: So -

TALEV: Not just watching his itinerary, but watching the politics around him.

CORNISH: I'm just saying, the quotes are coming out of Honolulu, OK?

CALABRESI: I think he's getting - I think he's getting a long way away from Washington.

CORNISH: Yes, exactly. Exactly.

CALABRESI: (INAUDIBLE) Greenland.

TALEV: I - National Security Advisor Mike Waltz has sort of taken the buck stops here mantle on this one.

CORNISH: Yes.

TALEV: But I think actually, in Washington, a lot more of the scrutiny and questions is going to be around the defense secretary.

CORNISH: Because of the information he actually put into the chat.

TALEV: And because several missteps in the early weeks of his tenure, a lot of concerns about people who were in the military, about whether, you know, how he's going to manage the job.

[07:00:01]

And so, I just think, this is the palace intrigue in Washington. But he has a really important job -

CORNISH: No, but he's a -

TALEV: And a lot of people are watching.

CORNISH: And he's also a cable news personality. People know him. They'll want to hear from him.

Kevin, last word to you.

FREY: I would - not to repeat the obvious here, but the Signal story. What is the next foot - shoe that's going to fall on this story? And, quite frankly, can Democrats try to rally some sort of message around this that cuts through that they can keep this as a second day, third day, fourth day story?

CORNISH: And that they can continue going.

Well, I know we're going to hear more about it in the headlines ahead. CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.