Hours after the editor-in-chief of the magazine The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, claimed that he was added to a Signal group discussing airstrikes on Yemen, US President Donald Trump tactfully downplayed the matter saying, "There was no classified information."
Trump's top officials 'accidentally' included Goldberg in a group on Signal, an open-source messaging app, and shared their war plans for military strikes in Yemen, the magazine reported in a story posted online Monday.
As per the report, US airstrikes targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels pounded sites across the country within just two hours after Goldberg received the details of the attack on March 15.
"I, however, knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming. The reason I knew this is that Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, had texted me the war plan at 11:44 a.m. The plan included precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing", The Atlantic Editor-In-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg mentioned in his report titled 'The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans'.
'No Classified Info': Trump Downplays War Text Leak
Commenting on the development, Trump told reporters, "There was no classified information," while adding that a lot of people in government use the Signal app.
He further assured to "look into" the use of the Signal app, and put on a united front at a meeting with US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who inadvertently included The Atlantic magazine's Jeffrey Goldberg in the conversation.
In a statement late Monday, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the president still has the “utmost confidence” in Waltz and the national security team.
In line with Leavitt's statement, Trump on Tuesday said, "Our National Security is stronger than it has ever been. We have had very successful and numerous attacks on that area (Yemen). These are the people (Houthis) who shoot down ships right out of the water. They also happen to be shooting anything that is flying through the area.
"There was no classified information, as I understand. They used an app that a lot of people in the government and the media use. The Houthis are on the run; the worst ones have been killed... This should have been done a long time ago. They randomly shoot missiles at ships, and they make their own missiles... The Atlantic is a failed magazine and nobody gives a damn about it... He (Mike Waltz) is a very good man and he will continue to do a good job", he further added.
Initially, Trump told reporters he was not aware that the highly sensitive information had been shared, two-and-a-half hours after it was reported. He later appeared to joke about the breach.
“I don’t know anything about it. You’re telling me about it for the first time.” He added that The Atlantic was “not much of a magazine.”
NSA Mike Waltz Responds
When asked about the war texts, NSA Mike Waltz said US technical and legal experts were looking into the breach but insisted he had "never met, don't know, never communicated" with the journalist.
"There are a lot of journalists in the city who have made big names for themselves, making up lies about this President... We are looking into how this one in particular got into the room. The world owes President Trump a favour. Under Biden, global shipping was shut down... We have a National security team that was coordinating these efforts", Waltz added.
How Did Goldberg Receive Messages?
According to the editor-in-chief, he was included in the group on Signal, by someone posing as President Donald Trump's national security adviser Michael Waltz. The group reportedly included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's Director of National Intelligence.
Goldberg said he received the Signal invitation from Mike Waltz, Trump's national security adviser, who was also in the group chat. “U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling", he said.
According to a report by CNBC, Hegseth blasted Goldberg as a “deceitful” and a “discredited so-called journalist” owing to his critical reporting of Trump while mentioning, “Nobody was texting war plans and that라이브 바카라 all I have to say about that.”
According to Goldberg, the discussion included “operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.”
“The information contained in them, if they had been read by an adversary of the United States, could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East, Central Command라이브 바카라 area of responsibility,” Goldberg stated.
