It's been a week now since the Signalgate story came out, and the Sunday shows were predictably all over it. On NBC News' "Meet the Press," host Kristen Welker asked Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) from the start for his thoughts on members of the Trump administration having discussions over the Signal app, as part of a conversation where The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertently added. As problematic as Welker's line of questioning was, Mullin held his own, earning him praise from President Donald Trump.
"A GREAT job by Senator Markwayne Mullin on beating back Kristen Welker’s, and the the Radical Left’s Witch Hunt, on the never ending Signal story. They just don’t stop - Over and over they go! Meet the Fake Press should instead explain how successful the attack was, and how Sleepy Joe Biden should have done it YEARS AGO," began his post by mentioning. As he and other Republicans have pointed out, the narrative from Democrats and their allies in the media has been to focus on the negatives surrounding the story rather than the successes. Furthermore, then-President Joe Biden even delisted the Houthis as terrorists, which is the group this mission was targeting.
He continued by speaking further about the successes of his second term while lambasting the press, adding, "This story and narrative is so old and boring, but only used because we are having the most successful 'First One Hundred Presidential Days' in the history of America, and they can’t find anything else to talk about. The Fake News Media has the lowest Approval Ratings in history, and for good reason. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!"
The senator responded by sharing a screenshot of the post and thanking the president.
Thank you, Mr. President. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/H0l9aulamq
— Markwayne Mullin (@SenMullin) March 30, 2025
How much of an issue was Welker's line of questioning? From the start, she seemed focused on the wrong details. In her question about the Signal app, for instance, she referred to it as "a commercial app," leaving out how the messages are encrypted and that the app was also used and even encouraged during the Biden-Harris administration.
Mullin himself got to that point about use of the app in the previous administration, after he also reminded Welker of the success of the mission. He reminded that "there were no war plans that The Atlantic put out" and that "what they did is they had a very successful attack against the Houthis."
The Houthis, Mullin reminded, have been a thorn in America's side for some time. "It's a terrorist organization that had been harassing our Navy for-- since 2023. They had attacked our Navy 174 times, and the Biden administration did nothing but sit on their hands. What the Trump administration did was take the fight directly to the Houthis," the senator reminded. The Biden-Harris administration had even delisted the Houthis as terrorists. "So, what this conversation should be is why didn't the Biden administration do something the last two years instead of us being focused on this Signal chat? Which, there was no classified information given out. The conversation was a thoughtful conversation, and the attack was extremely successful."
Welker continued to push back, referencing the times of the attack mentioned, wondering, "Senator, if that's not classified information... what is?"
Mullin himself pushed back as well, reminding that "this could have been going on any place in the world" and that "there was no specific information except that a target was going to be hit." He even added in another fitting dig against the Biden-Harris administration.
"We have terrorist organizations coming after the United States everywhere because the Biden administration has done nothing for four years. Instead of having peace through strength, like President Trump is leading, they try to do an appeasement. And what happened is these rogue regimes and terrorist organizations have taken advantage of it. What happened here is President Trump took the fight to our enemies, which should have happened a long time before. What is wrong with a conversation that is going in place," he reminded, even prompting a "yeah" from Welker, as she allowed him to continue further.
Mullin also brought up the overall foreign policy and national security failures of the previous administration, including and especially when it comes to the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin being out for cancer treatment without telling people.
"In fact, why are we focused so much on this? Why didn't we focus on the 13 service members that was killed in Afghanistan? There was no outcry or anybody resigning from there. What about the idea when Secretary Austin went MIA for a surgery, and went completely offline," the senator wondered. "No one was talking about him resigning. But the left has completely lost their mind over a good conversation and that was a absolute successful mission, and they can't let it go because President Trump is leading the world again."
.@SenMullin: "We have terrorist organizations coming out to the United States everywhere because the Biden administration has done nothing for four years... What happened here is, @POTUS took the fight to our enemies, which should've happened a long time before." pic.twitter.com/8g0cAqOrmb
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 30, 2025
Stunningly, Welker had no response to those failures. She instead shifted the topic slightly when it came to supposed current concerns for servicemembers. As she asked, "Senator, what's your message to service members and their family who may feel like officials in this chain were careless with information that could have put their loved ones' lives at risk?"
That brought another reminder from Mullin about the differences between Trump's terms and Biden's term. "I think the numbers speak for themselves. We've had record numbers of new recruits coming in the service since President Trump has taken office," he offered, also reminding how Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have better priorities for the military. "The morale is through the roof because people are finally saying, 'President Trump has taken the fight to our enemies rather than sitting back and apologizing and focus more on DEI than actual lethality,' which is what our service members want to do. They want to sign up for what they did, protect American rights, and go after those enemies that want to come and harm Americans," he added.
Every single day, here at [Insert Site], we will stand up and FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT against the radical left and deliver the conservative reporting our readers deserve.
Help us continue to the truth about the Trump administration and its major wins. Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member