The disclosure of a Signal chat between America’s top foreign policy makers — where battle plans against the Houthis were discussed in the digital presence of the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg — surfaces the possibility of criminal charges. 

Attorney General Bondi, though, appears unlikely to launch a case against her fellow Cabinet members. At a press conference on Thursday she argued that “it was sensitive information, not classified, and inadvertently released.” She told a reporter: “If you want to talk about classified information, talk about what was at Hillary Clinton’s home.”

“Talk about that,” she said, “that classified documents in Joe Biden’s garage that Hunter Biden had access to.” Yet one reporter, Tara Palmeri, took to X to disclose that “a Trump ally” told her “that the discussion right now is over whether Pete Hegseth will need a pardon.” 

One of the reasons for a pardon could be for violation of the Espionage Act, a statute that dates from World War I that aims to punish those who disclose America’s secrets. One of its provisions calls, in special circumstances, for the death penalty. Other punishments include fines of up to $10,000 and a decade in prison. 

The national security advisor, Mike Waltz, appears to have added Mr. Goldberg to the group text, though the former congressman, a Green Beret, denies knowing the journalist. President Trump ventured on Tuesday that Mr. Waltz “has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man.” The president blamed one of Mr. Waltz’s staff members for the snafu of including Mr. Goldberg in the sensitive conversation. 

The contributions of Secretary Hegseth to the chat appear to be the likeliest fodder for the possibility, however remote, of criminal charges. Only Mr. Hegseth shared details relating to aircraft and timing about upcoming strikes — “1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s).” Bombs began dropping some 30 minutes later. 

Among those prosecuted under the Espionage Act in recent years include the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, and Chelsea Manning. The law was also used against Eugene Debs, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and Edward Snowden — and against Mr. Trump for his retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Those charges, brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, were dropped after Mr. Trump won re-election. 

Mr. Trump was charged by Mr. Smith under a provision that makes it illegal for anyone who has “unauthorized possession of, access to, or control over” national defense information and who “has reason to believe [the information] could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation” to share it with unauthorized people. The administration has denied that the “Houthi PC Small Group Chat” contained any classified information.

The Espionage Act, though, predates the classification system, which was formalized by executive order in 1951. The standard for prosecution is only that the records at issue “relate to the national defense.” House Democrats write in a letter that the chat “could have jeopardized the safety of service members and compromised the military operation,” and a civil lawsuit has already been filed that alleges violations of the Federal Records Act.

That case will be heard by Judge James Boasberg, a bête noire of the president who has enjoined Mr. Trump’s use of another polarizing statute, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. That suit is being brought by a group, American Oversight, whose interim executive director, Chioma Chukwu, declares in a statement that the “reported disclosure of sensitive military information in a Signal group chat that included a journalist is a five-alarm fire for government accountability and potentially a crime.”

Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social in the small hours of Thursday morning: “There is no way for a Republican, especially a TRUMP REPUBLICAN, to win before” Judge Boasberg. He has also called the judge a “lunatic” and reflected: “Our Nation’s Courts are broken, with New York and D.C. being the most preeminent of all in their Corruption and Radicalism.” The Federal Records Act suit seeks to “recover unlawfully deleted messages and prevent further destruction.”

The director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, insisted during a congressional hearing on Wednesday: “There were no sources, methods, locations or war plans that were shared” in the chat. Mr. Trump likewise asserts: “It wasn’t classified information.” Another member of the chat, the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, contends that his contributions “were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information.”