US President Donald Trump has broken his silence in defence of the adviser who mistakenly added a journalist to a group chat discussing war plans in Yemen. He sent a public message to National Security Adviser Mike Waltz amid calls for him to step down after adding the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, Jeffery Goldberg, to the messaging app Signal.
Just hours after the leak scandal was revealed, Trump told NBC News that Waltz had “learned a lesson”, adding that he was a “good man”. He blamed the error on staff. Trump dismissed the story, saying it had “no impact at all” and the attacks were “perfectly successful”, adding that it was “the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one”. When asked how Goldberg was added to the chat, Trump explained: “It was one of Michael’s people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there.”
Waltz created the chat called ‘Houthi PC small group’ to coordinate strikes ordered by Trump against Houthis in Yemen as a warning to Tehran. It included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and US officials.
In the viral article, Goldberg wrote that a message by Hegseth contained operational details of upcoming strikes, including targets, weapons the US would deploy, and attack sequencing.
He added that he withheld information because it “could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel”.
An anonymous official slammed the leak to Politico: “Everyone in the White House can agree on one thing: Mike Waltz is a f***ing idiot.
“It was reckless not to check who was on the thread. It was reckless to be having that conversation on Signal. You can’t have recklessness as the national security advisor.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt criticised ‘anonymous sources’ for coming out against Waltz on X: “As I said yesterday, the President continues to have confidence in his national security team, including Mike Waltz.
“Stories claiming otherwise are driven by anonymous sources who clearly do not speak to the President, and written by reporters who are thirsty for a ‘scoop’.”
Goldberg initially believed he was added to the group as part of a disinformation operation, but quickly realised it was official.
A spokesperson for the National Security Council said: “This appears to be an authentic message chain, 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.”
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