Sarah Burris is a long-time veteran of political campaigns, having worked as a fundraiser and media director across the United States. She transitioned into reporting while working for Rock the Vote, Future Majority and Wiretap Magazine, covering the Millennial Generation's perspective during the presidential elections. As a political writer, Burris has had bylines at CNN, Salon.com, BNR, and AlterNet and serves as a senior digital editor for RawStory.com.
Punchbowl reporter Jake Sherman revealed that Senate Republicans may have "buyer's remorse" after allowing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to sail through confirmation.
Speaking to MSNBC on Wednesday, host Katy Tur noted "significant Republican" Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has indicated he's unhappy about what has been coined "Signalgate."
The story reveals a Signal chat among top officials in President Donald Trump's Cabinet who discussed classified military strikes against the Houthis in Yemen.
"It's important to remember that Roger Wicker's support was critical, absolutely critical to getting Pete Hegseth across the finish line as defense secretary," said Sherman, noting he was a controversial nominee. It "was very tense and very tenuous at times. And it's not — interestingly, Wicker and Hegseth have had a series of disagreements over the last couple of weeks. We wrote about this this morning. And, it seems to me that there might be a case — or there's a potential for a case of buyer's remorse because they've just split on a whole host of issues. What is he looking for? He's looking for a probe."
Adding to the White House's problem: Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the top Democrat on the committee, is also standing with Wicker, Sherman said.
He continued, saying that "there are just a ton of people at the White House and up here," on Capitol Hill, "who say privately that the spin you're hearing publicly is just embarrassing. That this is a mistake. It was stupid. They shouldn't be chatting on Signal about war maneuvers, whatever you want to call them. Attack plans, war plans, whatever you want to call them, on Signal, on cell phones."