this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2025
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NonCredibleDefense
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It would have been top tier if Goldberg had actually done something like this. Wait until everyone's quieted down from their American exceptionalist emojipasta and just said something like "...clean on OPSEC, huh, Pete?"
Nah, he should have kept his fucking mouth shut and just saved the screen shots till the channel started to die down.
Literally the biggest intelligence coup of the century so far, wasted as whiskyleaks memes.
I agree 100 percent. But it's Goldberg. Stopped clocks and all that. I'm glad he at least nutted up and actually published, but it was an absolute golden opportunity he pissed away.
Never been a huge fan of the guy. But now you've got me wondering, I don't actually remember: did the administration find out about it by him running the article? Did he ever identify himself to them in the chat?
My understanding is he left the chat once he realised it was legit.
Oh, what an absolute toad.
I wonder what, if any, legal liability you have if that happens to tell anyone?
Oh, you have liability, once you suspect you are gaining unauthorized access to classified materials you are obligated to end all contact and report to relevant authorities, ie the defense department or fbi.
If he wasn't a journalist he might have some plausible deniability, but he had 0 excuse.
This is true for people who hold security clearances and who have signed NDAs.
This is definitely not true for journalists. There is a first amendment right to publish classified stuff if you get your hands on it. See the Pentagon Papers.
For normies who don't have the backing of the New York Times, there's a bit of a grey area, because the Espionage Act is still on the books, probably unconstitutional, and never really been seriously tested. See Julian Assange, where he ultimately pled guilty to an Espionage Act charge without challenging the law itself.
You have a point, but the key was the Pentagon papers were given to them, and ellsberg would have gone to prison if not for the prosecutorial misconduct.
Then again the material was given to Goldberg, so I suppose the parallel was apt.