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SCOOP: WIRED has found four new Venmo accounts that appear to be associated with Trump officials who were in an infamous Signal chat. One made a payment with a note consisting solely of an eggplant emoji.

The officials include Dan Katz, Treasury chief of staff; Joe Kent, Trump’s nominee for director of the National Counterterrorism Center; and Mike Needham, counselor and chief of staff to the secretary of State. All participated in the “Houthi PC small group” chat. www.wired.com/story/even-m...

WIRED established that the accounts are almost certainly those of the government officials in question by analyzing the other accounts they were connected to, which in these cases included accounts appearing to belong to spouses. www.wired.com/story/even-m...

While public transactions on Venmo might appear harmless, one security expert says that foreign intelligence services look for patterns: who’s paying whom, how often, and when. “Say they’re making payments to their children—now you have a point of leverage.” www.wired.com/story/even-m...

Read the full story at the link: www.wired.com/story/even-m...

WIRED has previously reported on the partially public Venmo accounts of several of the high-ranking officials in the Houthi PC chat, including Vice President JD Vance.

It was JD, wasn’t it? He paid a furniture store? 🛋️🍆💦