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By Andrew Stanton
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The controversial conservative government blueprint Project 2025 included a training video addressing whether Republican administration officials should use Signal and similar messaging apps for discussions.
Newsweek has reached out to the Heritage Foundation, which crafted Project 2025 ahead of a possible second White House term for President Donald Trump, for comment via email.
Why It Matters
The Trump administration is under intense scrutiny following the revelation that it had used Signal to discuss sensitive military plans, accidentally including The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg in a group chat where officials discussed a strike against Houthis in Yemen.
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Critics from both the left and the right say the breach could have compromised the operation and posed a broader risk to U.S. national security.
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What To Know
Project 2025 was a controversial blueprint throughout the presidential campaign with Trump seeking to distance himself from the proposal as it received backlash, but he has brought on some individuals associated with it into his administration.
In a training video about "oversight and investigations" intended to prepare Trump administration appointees as part of Project 2025, Heritage Foundation oversight project executive director Mike Howell, America First Legal lawyer Michael Ding and Tom Jones of the American Accountability Foundation discussed the use of Signal.
The video has reemerged on social media amid backlash over the administration's use of the messaging application.
In the video, the three speakers discuss topics related to FOIA and public records but did not point to Signal as a way to avoid FOIA accountability.
Jones suggested appointees could have in-person meetings to avoid putting things in writing, which would then be subject to FOIA requests, but when asked if messages sent on Signal would count as Public records, Ding said it gets "really tricky."
"There's plenty of apps and other messaging platforms out there, whether it's deleting messages, encrypted communications or whatnot. All the agencies under the federal government are governed by certain records retention policies. You have to be careful with whatever agency you're working at, that you're following those polices," he said.
He continued, "That's another way that political appointees get into trouble sometimes, is they're using these encrypted chat platforms or self-deleting messages, and they are, in some sense, violating the law by deleting those."
Ding added that all of those communications would be federal records that need to be "properly retained" to respond to a FOIA.
What People Are Saying
Progressive media group The Tennessee Holler on X: "WATCH: Project 2025 warned against using apps like SIGNAL to conduct official business. Translation: They knew it was illegal and did it anyway - to keep it hidden from records requests."
President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday: "There was no classified information, as I understand it, they used an app if you want to call it an app. That's an app that a lot of people us."
He said the app is "used by the media a lot. It's used by a lot of the military, and I think, successfully, but sometimes somebody can get onto those things that's one of the prices you pay when you're not sitting in the Situation Room" and that the app is "the best technology for the moment."
Senator Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat, in a statement: "Two months ago, on the day of Secretary Hegseth's confirmation vote, I asked my colleagues if it was worth the risk to our servicemembers and our national security to confirm the most unprepared nominee for this job we've ever seen. This is what happens when you put unqualified people in important jobs where lives are on the line."
What Happens Next
The Trump administration will continue facing criticism over the use of Signal and has also faced some legal entanglements. It remains to be seen if any top level officials will step down amid the backlash.
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