US defence secretary calls Europe 'pathetic'

The editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, received an invitation to the chat on the Signal app by the National Security Advisor Michael Waltz. In the chat, the vice-president JD Vance seemingly said he hates "bailing Europe out again". The defence secretary Pete Hegseth apparently replied to Vance with: "I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It's PATHETIC". We hear from the Democratic Congressman Jim Himes, ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Also in the programme: an air strike on a market in Sudan is believed to have killed hundreds of people in western Darfur; and another piece of evidence showing there could have been life on Mars. (Photo: US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz speaks with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. Credit: Photo by Ludovic Marin/POOL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock. Washington, DC, USA, 24 February 2025)