Trumpâs Top Aides Suffer Another Series of Embarrassing Data Blunders

pNight News ReporterppWhen it rains it poursâat least thatâs the case for Mike Waltz and the countryâs top national security officials this week ppAfter President Donald Trumpâs national security adviser accidentally added a prominent journalist to a private Signal chat with more than a dozen top government officials it emerged that he had made another digital blunder leaving his Venmo friends list set to public ppAnd thatâs not all German news magazine Der Spiegel also reported Wednesday that it had found email addresses mobile phone numbers and even passwords belonging to a number of top Trump officials online The information on Waltz Defense Secretary Pege Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was reportedly available via commercial datasearch services and showed up in several recent dumps of hacked data that ended up onlineppADVERTISEMENTppDer Spiegel added that âmostâ of the numbers and emails it found appeared to still be in use with some tied to accounts on social media sites like LinkedIn Instagram or messaging service WhatsApp ppThe incidents this week have shone a massive spotlight on the administrationâs seemingly shoddy data security practices just a few months into Trumpâs tenureppWired was the first to report Wednesday that Waltz still had a public Venmo profileâand that it was filled with prominent journalists ppThe outlet claimed that the account which used the name âMichael Waltzâ and had a profile picture with Waltz in it included a public 328person friend list Members on the list apparently ranged from media figures and journalists to colleagues within the Trump administration like US National Security Council staffer Walker Barrett ppOne notable member of the list was White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles who seemingly also had her own public 182person friend list filled with names like US Attorney General Pam Bondi Wired reports that none of Waltzâs or Wilesâ financial transactions were public on Venmo but that it seemed that they had simply not selected to make their friend list private ppThough the White House apparently declined to comment on the Venmo accounts to Wired the outlet claimed that Waltzâs and Wilesâ profiles went private shortly after they reached outppIn a statement to the Daily Beast White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said âPasswords and accounts associated with these reported leaks are as much as a decade old and passwords have long been changedâppOn Monday The Atlanticâs Jeffrey Goldberg published a viral report detailing the brief period he was inadvertently added to the Signal group chat which existed to discuss thenupcoming military operations in Yemen ppThe stunning incident and its aftermath has led many pundits and politicians on both sides of the aisle to question the Trump administrationâs handling of potentially classified materials and digital security ppAlthough White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has repeatedly brushed off the text chain leak and claimed that no classified information was revealed President Donald Trump seemed less sure on Wednesday telling reporters âI donât know Iâm not sure Youâll have to ask the various people involved I really donât knowâppNight News ReporterppGot a tip Send it to The Daily Beast hereppADVERTISEMENTppADVERTISEMENTp