Following the news that a journalist was accidentally added to a group chat with some of the highest-level military strategists in the Trump Administration, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth spoke out about the incident.
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As previously reported, Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, claimed he was added to Hegseth’s group chat on the Signal app days before the airstrike in Yemen. Through the text exchange, Hegseth discussed bombing plans, including information about the weapons, the targets, and the timing of the attacks.
Along with Hegseth, others in the group chat included Mike Waltz, Marco Rubio, and Vice President JD Vance.
Shortly after the news broke about the group chat incident, Pete Hegseth addressed what happened by declaring, “Nobody was texting war plans.”
“And that’s all I have to say about that,” he stated. The US Secretary of Defense then referred to Goldberg as a “deceitful and highly discredited, so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again.”
Meanwhile, National Security Council, Brian Hughes, confirmed the group chat’s existence.
“This appears to be an authentic message chain,” Hughes shared. “And we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain. The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to troops or national security.”
President Trump Downplays the Group Chat Incident
President Donald Trump downplayed the group chat incident during a press conference on Tuesday. He claimed there “was no classified information” exchanged in the messages.
“They used an app, if you want to call it an app, that a lot of people use,” he explained. “A lot of people in government use, a lot of people in the media use.”
When asked if anyone would be fired as a result of the incident, President Trump seemingly said no.
“We’ve pretty much looked into it,” he said. “It’s pretty simple to be honest. It’s just something that can happen. It can happen.”
He then proceeded to criticize The Atlantic and Goldberg. “Well, I mean, look, we look at everything and, you know, they’ve made a big deal out of this because we’ve had two perfect months.”
Waltz further stated that he’s had technical experts instead of the FBI look into the matter. He then told President Trump, “We’re going to keep everything as secure as possible. No one in your national security team would ever put anyone in danger.”
The Atlantic has since pushed back on the Trump Administration’s claims.
“Attempts to disparage and discredit The Atlantic, our editor, and our reporting follow an obvious playbook by elected officials and others in power who are hostile to journalists and the First Amendment rights of all Americans,” the publication stated. “Our journalists are continuing to fearlessly and independently report the truth in the public interest.”
The Atlantic then added, “Jeffrey Goldberg was the recipient of information about and discussion of military planning among the country’s top national security leaders when he was inadvertently added to their non-secure messaging group. This is stunning — and was confirmed yesterday by the National Security Council.”