Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, said national security advisor Michael Waltz inadvertently added him to a group chat with Trump administration officials discussing war strikes in Yemen and other highly sensitive matters of national security.
Goldberg recounted the implausible situation in The Atlantic on Monday, starting from the moment earlier this month Waltz added him to the 18-person group chat on Signal ― something he first assumed was part of an elaborate hoax or disinformation campaign ― to his realisation that President Donald Trump’s top national security players were actually tinkering with war plans over a text thread.
In addition to Waltz, officials Goldberg seemingly identified in the group chat included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who he says sent information that our adversaries could have “used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East;” Vice President JD Vance; Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence; and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Goldberg said the situation he was in “became truly bizarre” on March 15, four days after Waltz added him to the conversation. At around 11:44 am ET, Hegseth texted the group “precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing” of US strikes on Yemen set to happen about two hours later. When those strikes took place as planned, Goldberg viewed the text thread as legitimate.
“What I will say, in order to illustrate the shocking recklessness of this Signal conversation, is that the Hegseth post contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing,” Goldberg wrote.
The Atlantic editor decided to leave the group chat at that point. When he reached out to officials to inquire about the validity of the chat, National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes confirmed to him that the thread was real. Hughes sent the same statement to HuffPost when reached for comment.
“This appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain,” he wrote. “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.”
The group chat also pulled back the curtain on Trump’s relationship with Vance, who has remained publicly aligned with the president but questioned his thinking on the strikes in Yemen in the chat with Waltz, Hegseth and other officials.
“I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now,” the vice president wrote. “There’s a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices. I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself. But there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc.”
Vance’s office emphasised his allegiance to Trump when reached for comment.
“The Vice President’s first priority is always making sure that the President’s advisers are adequately briefing him on the substance of their internal deliberations,” William Martin, Vance’s communications director, said in a statement sent to both Goldberg and HuffPost. “Vice President Vance unequivocally supports this administration’s foreign policy. The President and the Vice President have had subsequent conversations about this matter and are in complete agreement.”
When asked about Goldberg’s story on Monday, Trump told reporters he had no idea what they were talking about.
“I don’t know anything about it,” he said. “You are telling me about it for the first time.”
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said she would not answer any questions about the ordeal.
“I’ve said it twice, and appreciate your persistence,” she told a reporter at a Monday press conference.