Schumer, Democrats seek to get off the mat amid new Trump controversy

Democrats and their embattled Senate Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have received a welcome change to rebound amid the controversy surrounding the Signal group chat that entangled a number of Trump Cabinet members over the past week.

"Signalgate," in which a journalist was inadvertently included in a Trump administration group chat that included sensitive information about a military strike against the Houthis in Yemen, effectively served as a reprieve for Schumer.

Instead of being besieged by questions about Democratic divisions — and Schumer's vote to advance a GOP funding bill — the week was dominated by queries of how The Atlantic's editor-in-chief ended up getting invited by Trump's national security adviser to a group chat that included Vice President Vance and other top officials.

GOP senators were the ones fending off questions over why the Trump team, including officials traveling overseas, were discussing sensitive information on Signal, while Democrats were the ones going on offense.

What's more, the Signal story broke just hours before members of the Senate were returning from recess to a Washington ready to pounce on Schumer and their party's divide.

Democrats were generally hiding any glee over their fortune, but some acknowledged the shifting winds.

“None of it makes me happy,” Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) said about the Signal chat. “But it certainly has changed the tenor of the discussion, and it took the frustration and sense of loss that people in Colorado were feeling … and given it more of a focus.” 

Schumer, specifically, was expected to face tough questions after he surprised Democrats by deciding to advance the GOP spending bill and prevent a shutdown, even after vulnerable House Democrats stuck their necks out by voting against it.

The New York Democrat spent much of the recess promoting a book aimed at combating antisemitism, but he was also forced to sell himself as still being the best person to lead Senate Democrats. Those queries had been few and far between since he took over the role from former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in 2017. 

Instead, the focus was on the uproar within the GOP, upending the news cycle and allowing Schumer to talk about somebody else’s status instead of his own. 

Democrats were already hoping to put up a more unified front against major GOP legislation being crafted by Republicans to move Trump's agenda of tax cuts and energy and border provisions.

But Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) acknowledged the Signal controversy gave something for Democrats to rally around, and to fight in a way that their base had been asking them to do.

“It’s very helpful,” Welch said. “I also think it was some clarity and unity coming out of the division we had. … That was a moment where the enormous frustration that we felt in our base felt that we have to stand up to Trump came together, and there was a demand that we ‘do something.’”

“I think it’s internalized within our caucus that our base is right,” he added. “We've got to find every way we can fight and fight harder, and I think there's unity in that.” 

Democrats will get another change to unify and fight as the GOP brings a budget package including Trump's tax cuts to the floor. The package is already dividing Republicans on a few fronts, while Democrats are unified in opposition given the GOP is seeking to move the bill without any assistance from the minority party.

By using budget reconciliation rules, the GOP is seeking to sidestep a filibuster in the Senate.

A coming vote-a-rama on the package will allow Democrats to hold votes on as many amendments as possible, many of which are likely to make vulnerable GOP lawmakers uncomfortable. 

Meanwhile, Democrats are already taking full advantage of The Atlantic’s reporting.

Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee peppered CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, both of whom were in the Signal group, at the annual “Worldwide Threats” hearing, about whether the information in the chat was classified.

Gabbard and Ratcliffe’s insistence that it wasn’t — along with Hegseth and President Trump saying the same — prompted Goldberg to release the officials’ full text exchange. That, in turn, led to even more back-and-forth about the administration’s actions and handling of sensitive information. 

“We’re standing in a sandstorm that the Trump administration has created,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said. “But the key thing in a sandstorm is to keep your eye on where we’re headed. It all comes to the tax fight. … It is critical that we respond to what’s happening, but that we not get pulled off the central fight because the Republican effort to hand this government over to the billionaires is the existential fight for our democracy and our country.”

None of this is going to completely obliterate the real divisions in the Democratic Party, which for the first two and a half months of Trump's presidency has struggled to keep up.

The tumult over the funding bill has raised the stakes further for the party.

“The lesson learned is when you see something coming at you,” to be ready, said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). “You could have seen the CR train coming at us a mile away, and in my view, we should have been much better prepared.” 

“We’ve seen the Trump tax cuts for the rich coming at us … 10 miles away,” he said. “So we do have time to lay the groundwork, which is part of what we’re doing here.”

Still, the Signal controversy has put the party in a different space than it was a week ago.

“Thank you, Pete Hegseth and Michael Waltz,” Welch quipped, referring to the Defense secretary and national security adviser, respectively.