Pete Hegseth says Atlantic editor-in-chief 'peddles in garbage' in response to report Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertently added to top secret Signal chat

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was asked about the The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief's report that he was inadvertently added to a group chat alongside senior Trump administration officials where strikes against Houthi rebels were discussed. On the tarmac in Hawaii, Hegseth told reporters "nobody was texting war plans," and said that Jeffrey Goldberg is "a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist" who has "made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump still has "utmost confidence" in his national security team. "As President Trump said, the attacks on the Houthis have been highly successful and effective. President Trump continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team, including National Security Advisor Mike Waltz," Leavitt said in a statement, per Semafor White House correspondent Shelby Talcott. 

When Trump was asked about it, per Fox, he said "I don’t know anything about it. I’m not a big fan of the Atlantic. To me, it's a magazine that’s going out of business. I think it’s not much of a magazine, but I know nothing about it."

All of this comes after Goldberg published an article called "The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans," outlining a chain of events in which Mike Waltz reached out to him and added him to a group chat on Signal in which details of the US plans to strike Yemeni Houthis was discussed. Goldberg said that on March 11, he received a connection request on Signal from a user identified as Michael Waltz. 

He wrote that while he didn’t find it "particularly strange" for Waltz to be reaching out, "I did think it somewhat unusual, given the Trump administration’s contentious relationship with journalists—and Trump’s periodic fixation on me specifically." He initially thought it may be someone posing as Waltz, but accepted the request. Goldberg said he was not initially certain if the chat was fake.

On March 13, at 4:28 pm, Goldberg said he received a "notice that I was to be included in a Signal chat group. It was called the 'Houthi PC small group.'"

Goldberg said that a total of 18 people were included in the chat, including Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. Goldberg appeared in the chat as "JG."

Goldberg said he discussed with colleagues the "the possibility that these texts were part of a disinformation campaign, initiated by either a foreign intelligence service or, more likely, a media-gadfly organization, the sort of group that attempts to place journalists in embarrassing positions, and sometimes succeeds. I had very strong doubts that this text group was real, because I could not believe that the national-security leadership of the United States would communicate on Signal about imminent war plans. I also could not believe that the national security adviser to the president would be so reckless as to include the editor in chief of The Atlantic in such discussions with senior US officials, up to and including the vice president."

Discussions continued on March 14, with members discussing timing of the potential attack, Goldberg said. The account marked JD Vance, per Goldberg, said that he was going to be at an event in Michigan that day, "but I think we are making a mistake," going on to note how little US trade runs through the Suez Canal compared to Europe. "There is a real risk that the public doesn’t understand this or why it’s necessary. The strongest reason to do this is, as POTUS said, to send a message." Vance later added in response to a message from an account labeled "Pete Hegseth", "I just hate bailing Europe out again." The Vance account also stated, " am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now."

The Hegseth account wrote, "Waiting a few weeks or a month does not fundamentally change the calculus. 2 immediate risks on waiting: 1) this leaks, and we look indecisive; 2) Israel takes an action first – or Gaza cease fire falls apart – and we don’t get to start this on our own terms. We can manage both. We are prepared to execute, and if I had final go or no go vote, I believe we should."

The following morning, the Hegseth account posted a "TEAM UPDATED" message to the chat, which Goldberg did not publish or quote from because "The information contained in them, if they had been read by an adversary of the United States, could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East, Central Command’s area of responsibility."

"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 U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing," Goldberg wrote.

The Hegseth account wrote that the first detonations in Yemen would take place at 1:45 pm Eastern. "So I waited in my car in a supermarket parking lot. If this Signal chat was real, I reasoned, Houthi targets would soon be bombed. At about 1:55, I checked X and searched Yemen. Explosions were then being heard across Sanaa, the capital city."

The Waltz account posted an update at 1:48 pm, describing the operation as an "amazing job." Others replied with celebratory remarks on the success.

Appearing on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Waltz said of the mission, "These were not kind of pinprick, back-and-forth—what ultimately proved to be feckless attacks. This was an overwhelming response that actually targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out."

"The Signal chat group, I concluded, was almost certainly real. Having come to this realization, one that seemed nearly impossible only hours before, I removed myself from the Signal group, understanding that this would trigger an automatic notification to the group’s creator, 'Michael Waltz,' that I had left."

Goldberg emailed various officials who had been in the group chat about it, questioning whether the Signal thread was genuine, why he had been added to the group, whether they knew he had been added, and other questions.

Brian Hughes, the spokesman for the National Security Council, replied, "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."

William Martin, a spokesperson for Vance, said, "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. 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."