It’s not simply nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz who sucks at, nicely, sustaining nationwide safety. Dozens of Trump Cupboard officers are additionally clueless in terms of defending their private info.
NOTUS dropped a report on Tuesday displaying that greater than 50 members of Congress and at the least 30 Trump administration officers—together with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, press secretary Karoline Leavitt, and commerce adviser Peter Navarro—had public Venmo accounts. And plenty of of them nonetheless haven’t flipped the privateness change.
For some, their open transactions provided a weirdly intimate have a look at their private lives. Republican Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas, for instance, had Venmo exercise suggesting he likes to gamble on main golf tournaments. One fee, dated April 6, 2021, was labeled “Masters 21 Donation.”
In the meantime, Democratic Rep. Greg Landsman of Ohio despatched cash to his sister with the notice: “Some concert I didn’t even go to.”
“These people in Congress and on the executive branch teams, we think of them as people that have done a lot of things and know a lot of things,” software safety specialist Invoice Sempf advised NOTUS. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re particularly internet savvy. It does not surprise me at all that you would find a large portion of Congress in there.”
Positive, some public Venmo funds—particularly innocent ones like these of Landsman and Womack—may appear innocent at first. However you then bear in mind: a few of these folks with wide-open accounts are both straight tied to, or are, those accountable for nationwide safety.
NOTUS additionally reported that it wasn’t precisely a digital manhunt to trace them down. Many members of Congress or Cupboard members have been pals with one another on the app, which made it simple to attach the dots.
“Besides the privacy violation that may lead to embarrassing or inappropriate details of your life and associates, one of the risks is that adversaries might target your contacts,” cybersecurity skilled Katie Moussouris advised NOTUS. “If they compromise a close contact, they are more likely to be successful sending a convincing phishing message that appears to be from that person.”
In different phrases, should you’re dumb sufficient to go away your Venmo huge open, you’re in all probability dumb sufficient to get performed by somebody attempting to infiltrate U.S. intelligence. And if members of Trump’s Cupboard can’t even lock down their transaction historical past, what’s stopping them from casually dropping wartime intel in a Sign group chat? (Oh, proper. They already did that.)
NOTUS stated that even after being contacted, officers like Duffy, deputy chief of employees Stephen Miller, and Navarro nonetheless hadn’t made their pals record non-public. This could be a problem, contemplating a few of their Venmo friends embrace journalists from CNN, Politico, and The New York Occasions.
These aren’t precisely nice optics when your boss thinks all three shops are the enemy of the folks—and simply exploded over Waltz having The Atlantic’s Jeff Goldberg in his contacts.
To be honest, some officers did attempt to clear up the mess. NOTUS reported that Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth nuked his account as soon as reporters began digging. Vice President JD Vance did the identical after his Venmo was uncovered again in July 2024.
Nonetheless, there have been some really troubling finds. Navarro is Venmo pals with resident grifter Laura Loomer, who’s Venmo friends with Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. One Division of Authorities Effectivity staffer named Christopher Stanley had public transactions labeled “(.Y.) 
” and others that have been simply … eggplant emojis. Stylish.
Completely regular habits from an administration that’s presently dismantling democracy and tanking the economic system.
