DELAND, Fla. — (AP) — As Washington was roiled by the news that one of President Donald Trump's top aides added a journalist to a group chat discussing military plans, many Republicans going to the polls to replace that White House aide's old U.S. House seat have brushed off the story.
Early voting is underway in Florida to replace Mike Waltz, who is now Trump’s national security adviser.
“I think it was a faux pas, and it was a mistake that somebody made,” said Gary Caples, a Republican voter in DeLand, Florida. “Nobody’s perfect.”
State Senator Randy Fine, who received Trump's endorsement to succeed Waltz, told The Associated Press that he was too busy to read The Atlantic's story on how a journalist was texted plans for military strikes in Yemen.
“It’s hard enough to run for office and be in the Senate. So that’s my focus right now,” Fine said.
The muted Republican reaction both in Florida and among many lawmakers nationally reflects how incidents that may have once sparked bipartisan outrage are only dismissed as hiccups as Trump stands firm, backed by his allies and supporters. Indeed, Trump dug in at the White House, attacking The Atlantic and top editor Jeffrey Goldberg, who was added to the group chat, and insisting that none of his aides should apologize.
Waltz, according to The Atlantic, appeared to have mistakenly added Goldberg to a chat that included 18 senior administration officials discussing planning for a strike in Yemen.
“Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” Trump said Tuesday. He also appeared to point blame on an unnamed Waltz aide for Goldberg being added to the chain. “It was one of Michael’s people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there.”
But during a subsequent interview Tuesday night with Fox News Channel, Waltz said he built the Signal group chat and no aide was to blame.
“We made a mistake. We’re moving forward,” he said.
Waltz said he had not spoken to Goldberg and he was trying to add someone else’s number, but Goldberg’s number somehow appeared under another name. Waltz refused to name the person he’d been trying to add to the group chat.
Trump's pick of Waltz for a key White House job triggered an April 1 special election to fill his seat, with early voting already underway.
Fine is heavily favored against Democrat Josh Weil in a district with far more registered GOP voters. That's despite some national Republicans expressing concern about Fine's fundraising and overall campaign.
Local party leaders in this heavily Republican area along Florida’s Atlantic Coast north of Orlando say the Signal flap had not been mentioned by people heading to the polls to cast their vote early. They pushed back against the idea that Waltz did anything wrong.
While manning a tent promoting Fine, Zelma Cohen, West Volusia's Republican Party vice president, said none of the early voters had mentioned the report and that in Washington, “they get excitable about everything.”
“We all know Mike and have a lot of faith in him. Mike is a very competent person,” Cohen said.
Even people who were critical of the mistake and are helping Democrats in this election saw this as a “side issue.”
“The real issues are what are they doing to our benefits, what are they doing to Medicare, what are they doing to Social Security, what are they doing to the Veterans Administration,” said Sally Garcia, who was helping spread the word about Weil in the parking lot of a strip mall in DeLand where the elections supervisor's office was located.
In a statement, the Democratic candidate connected some of these issues by criticizing the Trump administration and Waltz for the lapse on security happening at the same time officials are tightening Social Security Administration measures, by requiring recipients to visit field offices to verify their identity in person rather than over the phone.
“Shutting down phone lines used to file nearly 40% of claims makes no sense if our national security advisor can’t adhere to the protocols that keep our country secure," said Weil.
In Palm Beach County, home to the president, some people expressed disappointment over the leak and felt Trump should own up to the mistake.
“Our national defense is one of the most important elements of keeping our nation secure,” said Kate Polak, of Pompano Beach. “I think people need to step up and not only apologize, but potentially step aside as well, because after all, that is literally their job and they’re making the big bucks for it.”
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Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Associated Press writers Kate Payne in Tallahassee, Fla. and Stephany Matat, in Boca Raton, Fla. contributed to this report.
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