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 House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration is not ruling out making firings over the security screwup.
As the fallout continues in Washington, Sen. Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) has called into question whether Goldberg found his way into the chat via “creative” information-gathering tactics that she says journalists often use on political leaders.
“A lot of times, reporters will get information illegally or will have a bribe on someone that’s in the room to them, but they can’t tell you their source because that gets them in trouble,” Hyde-Smith said during an appearance on Mornings with Richard Cross. “I think that’s where Jeff Golberg is right now. You know, ‘I got it, but can’t really tell them how I got it because I’ll get myself in trouble. A lot of times they say they have hot juicy news, but I have to tell a story to justify how I got it.”
Others on Capitol Hill have not been as dismissive, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.). On Wednesday, Wicker called for an expedited investigation into the incident along with Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the committee.
The pair signed a letter to acting Department of Defense Inspector General Steven Stebbins that called for an inquiry into the potential “use of unclassified networks to discuss sensitive and classified information, as well as the sharing of such information with those who do not have proper clearance and need to know.”
As the accuracy of claims made on both sides continues to be challenged, a bipartisan investigation appears to be the only path to a clear picture of what transpired in the security chat and how exactly it happened.
