This morning, a Senate intelligence committee hearing took place on Capitol Hill. While discussing the national security lapse from earlier this week in which the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic was allegedly accidentally added to a Signal group chat of national security officials discussing a bombing campaign in Yemen, Taylor Swift’s cancelled Vienna concerts from last year were referenced.
In August, the pop star’s Eras Tour shows at Ernst-Happel-Stadion were the target of a planned terrorist attack by ISIS. Two men were arrested and the shows were cancelled. At today’s hearing, Democratic Virginia Senator Mark Warner explained the dangers of alienating allies to the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and FBI Director Kash Patel. He mentioned Swift’s Vienna incident as an example.
“That sharing of information saves lives, and it’s not hypothetical — we all remember, because it was declassified — last year when Austria worked with our community to make sure to expose a plot against Taylor Swift in Vienna that could have killed literally hundreds of individuals,” he said.
Swift released a statement shortly after the cancellations, saying, “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows. But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives.”
Intel sharing saved Taylor Swift and her fans in Austria — Senator Warner pic.twitter.com/0Pr4ckkNQC
— RT (@RT_com) March 25, 2025
