The Trump administration is dealing with an extraordinary leakage of internal security deliberations revealed in an encrypted group chat that mistakenly includes Atlantic journalists.
In a group message between cabinet officials and senior White House staff, Defense Secretary Pete Hegses disclosed the war plan two hours before the US forces launched an attack on Yemeni Hooty militia. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz accidentally added Atlantic Prime Minister editor Jeffrey Goldberg to the group chat on the commercial messaging app Signal.
This is the latest.
What did the White House say?
President Trump told NBC News on Tuesday that the leak was “the only glitch in two months and turned out to be not serious.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on social media that “the “war plan” has not been discussed” and “the classified material was not sent to the thread.” However, Goldberg wrote that he didn't publish some of the messages to the thread because he said it contained sensitive information.
Goldberg's report also raised concerns about using signals to manage administrators, messaging platforms that do not use this, and setting messages to be automatically deleted. Levitt disagreed with these concerns.
“The White House Advisors Office provides guidance on many different platforms to ensure that President Trump's top officials communicate as safely and efficiently as possible,” she wrote.
Following the Atlantic report, National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said in a statement Monday that the message thread “seems to be authentic.” Hughes said officials are “reviewing how careless numbers have been added to the chain.”
The administration tried to discredit Jeffrey Goldberg.
When Trump was first asked about the report Monday, he said he had no idea of the leak, but he immediately attacked the magazine.
“I'm not a huge Atlantic fan,” he said. “For me, it's a magazine going out of business.”
For many years, Trump has complained about Goldberg and his publications for articles published by journalists in 2020.
Hegseth likewise criticized Goldberg on Monday, calling him a “deceived and highly discredited so-called journalist” after landing in Hawaii.
“No one texted the war plan, and that's all I have to say about it,” Heggs said.
Goldberg responded to Hegses' comments and told CNN, “That's a lie.”
Will Waltz face consequences?
Trump said Waltz wouldn't face any consequences after Goldberg wrote on Tuesday that his national security adviser added him to the signal chat.
“Michael Waltz learned a lesson and he's a good guy,” Trump told NBC News. The president said one of Mr Waltz's staff added Mr Goldberg.
But even before Monday's leak, Waltz faced skepticism from both inside and outside the administration. Some of Trump's most conservative allies thought he wasn't loyal enough to the president, but some of the Republicans he previously served in Congress thought he was too loyal.
How do the parties respond?
Democrats are furious at the report and are calling for an investigation into the disclosure of sensitive material. It also brings attention to the Trump administration's efforts to downplay the incident, resurrecting Waltz and other Trump allies' Clips as Hillary Clinton's criticism of his use of private email servers as Secretary of State.
Clinton posted a link to an Atlantic article on social media with two eye emojis on Monday, writing, “You have to be kidding me.”
Several Republicans at Capitol Hill have expressed concern about Goldberg's inclusion in the chat, and have admitted that it was a mistake. But most people said they wanted a full briefing before reaching a conclusion.
Pennsylvania Republican leader Brian Fitzpatrick, who is sitting on the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN that his panel will send an investigation to the head of the National Intelligence Email Director to determine whether a more comprehensive investigation has been justified. However, speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, dismissed the idea of additional research or discipline for the officials involved.
Still, some of Trump's most loyal allies downed the incident. Sean Hannity, host of Fox News, said the story was a “smear” “unfolding to the left.”
