Trump defends adviser amid text breach

Calls incident a 'glitch,' says lesson was learned

By: Josy Garison
and Savannah Kuchar
USA Today

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump expressed confidence in his national security team Tuesday [03/24/2025] while Democrats in Congress demanded answers after an explosive report revealed top Trump administration officials discussing sensitive information about U.S. war plans in a Signal group chat with a journalist present.
..... The stunning security breach was revealed by The Atlantic's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg in a first-hand account detailing how Trump's national security advisee Mike Waltz, mistakenly invited him into a chat on the app Signal that included 18 administration officials including Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
..... Unaware the reporter was in the chat, the Trump offices plotted U.S. airstrikes on Iran-backed Houthi sites in Yemen that took place March 15. [2205] The conversations culminate with Hegseth, hours before the airstrikes, sharing secret plans - including targets and attack sequencing - in the chat.
..... Democrats and some Republicans have said the Signal leak - by federal officials suing the publicly available encrypted messaging app - raises alarming questions about the potential mishandling of national security information, which federal law dictates should only be shared through the government's own approved secure platforms.

Trump stands by Waltz

..... Trump, in a phone interview Tuesday [03/24/2025] with NBC News, stood by Waltz in his first substantive remarks on the security breach. "Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he's a good man," the president said.
..... Trump told NBC News that Goldberg's presence in the chat had "no impact at all" on the military operation.
..... "It was one of Michael's people on, the phone. a staffer had his number on there," Trump said when asked what he was told about how Goldberg was added to the Signal chat.
..... Trump defended his national security team despite the details revealed in The Atlantic's story, calling the situation "the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one."

FBI director briefed

..... FBI Director Kash Patel said he was briefed about the Signal incident Monday [03/24/2025] night and again on Tuesday. [03/25/2025]
..... "I don't have an update," Patel said in response to Senator Mark Warner's question of whether the FBI had launched an investigation into the potential leak of classified information.
..... Warner, D-Virginia, has asked Gabbard, seated to Patel;s left in a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Tuesday, [03/25/2025] to confirm she was one of several senior officials in the group chat.
..... "I'm not going to get into the specifics," Gabbard said repeatedly, adding, "because this is currently under review by the National Security Council."
..... Ratcliffe, the CIA director and another reported member of the Signal chat, confirmed to Warner he was a member of the virtual group.

'I didn't think it could be real'

..... It is unclear why Goldberg, a longtime Washington-based reporter and editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was added to the chat of Trump officials.
..... Goldberg said he was initially suspicious about the chat, wary that it could be a hoax designed to entrap a reporter and skeptical top national security officials would be using a phone app to discuss such sensitive material. He said he realized it was authentic when the Yemen airstrike plans revealed by Hegseth came to fruition.
..... "I don't think it could be real," The Atlantic article's headline said. "then the bombs started falling."
..... On the morning of the Saturday [03/15/2025] attack in Yemen, Goldberg said Hegseth sent an update to the group that contained "operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen," including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying and attack sequencing.
..... The airstrikes came in response to more than two years of Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea that have disrupted shipping.
..... But ahead of the airstrikes, Vance shared concerns about carrying out plans, telling the group he worried the operation could undercut Trump's foreign policy position on matters that impact Europe more than the U.S.
..... At one point he said, "I just hate bailing Europe out again."
..... In another message, Vance told the group: "I an not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now. There's a further risk that we see a moderate to serve spike in oil prices. I am willing to support 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."

Reporters says Hegseth is lying

..... The White House acknowledged the authenticity of the Signal chat but downplayed the significance of the breach, arguing the airstrike operation was executed as planned.
..... White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt accused Goldberg of "sensationalist spin,: insisting that no "war plans" were discussed. she said no classified material was sent in the thread, adding that the White House counsel's Office has provided guidance on a "number of different platforms" for Trump's top officials to communicate.
..... She said the White House is "looking into" how Goldberg's number was inadvertently added to the chat.
..... Hegseth also denied war plans were shared, telling reporters on Monday, [03/24/2025] "Nobody was texting war plans, and that's all I have to say about that."
..... In response, Goldberg told CNN on Monday: [03/24/2025] "That's a lie. He was texting war plans, he was texting attack plans," and that's adding that he didn't believe sharing the sacrifices of the defense secretary's war plans was in the pubic interest.
..... "What's in the public interest is that they were running a war plan on a messaging app," Goldberg added, "and didn't even know who was invited into the conversation. It's an obvious, ridiculous security breach.

HOME