President Trump continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team, including National Security Advisor Mike Waltz
The Trump administration is facing political uproar after the White House confirmed that a journalist had been inadvertently added to an unsecure group chat in which US national security officials planned a military strike in Yemen.
The Atlantic magazine’s Jeffrey Goldberg reported that he had been added to a Signal message group which apparently included Vice-President JD Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
He said he had seen classified military plans for US strikes on Houthi rebels, including weapons packages, targets and timing, two hours before the bombs struck.
The report sparked a firestorm of criticism from opposition Democrats and concerns among several Republicans.
Goldberg said he had been added to the message chain, apparently by accident, after receiving a connection request from someone who appeared to be White House National Security Advisor Michael Waltz.
“If they were going to pick an errant phone number, I mean at least it wasn’t somebody who supported the Houthis, because they were actually handing out information that I believe could have endangered the lives of American service people who were involved in that operation,” he told PBS in an interview.
President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday afternoon that he was not aware of the Atlantic article.
“The attacks on the Houthis have been highly successful and effective,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
“President Trump continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team, including National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.”
The defence secretary also defended the military operation discussed in the chat, citing its success. When pressed by reporters, Hegseth criticised Goldberg as a “deceitful and highly discredited” journalist and resisted questions about the content of the messages.
House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, said the breach had been a mistake, but argued that the chat showed “top level officials doing their job, doing it well”.
Democratic lawmakers demanded an investigation, casting the episode as a national security scandal.
“This is one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence that I have read about in a very, very long time,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said.
Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, said his panel planned to investigate the matter.
“It’s definitely a concern,” he added. “It appears that mistakes were made.”
bbc.com