Washington was thrown into a tizzy on Monday after Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, published an article claiming he had been added to a supposedly secure group chat on the messenger app Signal in which top-secret military plans were discussed. A blustery discourse has followed in which some officials are confirming the mistake, while others, like Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, are wondering aloud whether Goldberg obtained the information through nefarious methods.
Goldberg says he was, somehow, inadvertently added to the group by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz titled “Houthi PC small group,” which included specific, sensitive details of a planned strike on Houthi terrorists in Yemen. The Atlantic editor reported on the accidental inclusion eight days after the U.S. carried out an attack on a Houthi outpost, the same operation described in the chat.
Top aides of President Donald Trump have not contested the claim that Goldberg was mistakenly added to the chat but have vehemently denied that any “war plans” were discussed. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who was in the chat along with Vice President J.D. Vance, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and other top officials, was direct with the media when questioned on Monday.
“Nobody was texting war plans, and that’s all I have to say about that,” Hegseth said.
The Atlantic responded to the blowback on Wednesday by publishing the entire chain of messages, which included Hegseth specifying the types of military aircraft and the timing of airstrikes to be carried out on Houthi militia in Yemen.
The Trump administration’s language has softened since. President Trump said Tuesday that there were no classified details shared “to my knowledge.” After the full transcript was released, the president was again asked to confirm that no classified information was shared.
“I don’t know. I’m not sure, you’ll have to ask the various people involved. I really don’t know,” Trump answered.
Trump has since publicly defended Waltz, who created the chat and admitted to the mistake of accidentally adding Goldberg. But Thursday, White
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