President Donald Trump fielded additional question on Wednesday after it was revealed that top national security officials discussed sensitive attack plans in a Signal group chat that inadvertently included a journalist.
The Context
The White House and Trump officials have maintained that the information shared via Signal with The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was not classified.
But Democrats and former national security and intelligence officials have challenged that claim, pointing out that the group chat included messages outlining specific plans for an imminent strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen.
What To Know
On Wednesday, as Trump announced new tariffs on a slew of products, a reporter asked him about the continued fallout over the Signal texts.
Asked if he still believes that nothing classified was shared in the message chain, Trump replied that he didn’t know.
“Well, that’s what I’ve heard,” the president said. “I don’t know. I’m not sure. You have to ask the various people involved. I really don’t know.”
He went on to accuse the media of carrying out a “witch hunt” when he was asked if the administration was downplaying the severity of the leak.
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Trump went on to say he wouldn’t be opposed to an inspector general investigation into how Goldberg came to be included in the group chat in the first place and whether national security officials should use other means to communicate about sensitive military plans.
“It doesn’t bother me,” Trump said when asked if he would support an IG report. “I want to find if there’s any mistake or if Signal doesn’t work. It could be that Signal’s not very good. Maybe it’s not very good. I think we’d rather know about it now.”
The White House, national security adviser Mike Waltz, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and others have also lobbed ad hominem attacks against Goldberg. They have not denied the veracity of his reporting, which includes full screenshots of the text messages. A spokesperson for the National Security Council also confirmed that the messages Goldberg reported on appeared to be “authentic.”
Goldberg reported that Waltz first invited him to the group chat in mid-March. The group included top national security officials and Cabinet-level secretaries like Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
After several days of policy-oriented discussions about the pros and cons of carrying out military strikes against Houthi targets, Hegseth dropped a message in the chat that included operational details about the strikes, including precise timing, attack sequencing and information about at least one target.
The defense secretary has insisted, however, that none of the information he shared was classified.
“So, let’s me get this straight. The Atlantic released the so-called ‘war plans’ and those ‘plans’ include: No names. No targets. No locations. No units. No routes. No sources. No methods. And no classified information,” Hegseth wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday morning. “Those are some really s***** war plans. This only proves one thing: Jeff Goldberg has never seen a war plan or an ‘attack plan’ (as he now calls it). Not even close.”
Trump defended Hegseth on Wednesday afternoon, telling reporters he’s “doing a great job” and “had nothing to do with this.”
“How do you bring Hegseth into it?” the president said. “He had nothing to do with it. Look, it’s all a witch hunt. Here we are talking about some of the greatest business deals ever made, the greatest companies in the world are moving into the United States and you want to ask about whether or not Signal works. I don’t know that Signal works. I think Signal could be defective, to be honest with you.”
What People Are Saying
Rubio said at a press conference on Wednesday: “Obviously, someone made a mistake. Someone made a big mistake and added a journalist. Nothing against journalists, but you’re not supposed to be on that thing.
“I’ve been assured by the Pentagon and everyone involved that none of the information that was on there … at any point threatened the operation or the lives of our service members,” Rubio added.
Waltz, who initially added Goldberg to the group chat, said Tuesday: “I’ve never met, don’t know, never communicated with” Goldberg.
He also told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham he takes “full responsibility” for the blunder, adding: “I built the group. My job is to make sure everything’s coordinated.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X: “The Atlantic has conceded: these were NOT ‘war plans.’ This entire story was another hoax written by a Trump-hater who is well-known for his sensationalist spin.”
Goldberg dismissed Leavitt’s commentary, telling MSNBC on Wednesday: “I don’t even know what that means. I mean, the plain language in the text is—what are they arguing? That an attack is different than a war?”
What Happens Next
Waltz said Tuesday that the Trump administration—including Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency—is investigating how the mistake happened in the first place.
Update 03/26/25 6:32 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
