National security adviser Mike Waltz accepted “full responsibility” Tuesday for accidentally including Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief in a Signal chat group where discussions about military strikes against the Houthis in Yemen took place.
“Well, look, a staffer wasn’t responsible,” Waltz told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham in his first media interview since the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg revealed that he was privy to the Trump administration’s internal deliberations and planning of March 15 airstrikes after being added to a text chain on the encrypted Signal app by the national security adviser.
“Look, I take full responsibility,” Waltz added. “I built the group. My job is to make sure everything’s coordinated.”
When pressed by the “The Ingraham Angle” host on why Goldberg’s number was on his phone to begin with, the White House official claimed he didn’t know.
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“Have you ever had somebody’s contact that shows their name and then you have somebody else’s number there?” Waltz began.
“So, of course I didn’t see this loser in the group,” he continued, referring to Goldberg, who is viewed by many as an antagonist ofTrump. “It looked like someone else.
“Now, whether he did it deliberately or it happened by some other technical means is something we’re trying to figure out.”
Waltz described the incident as “embarrassing” — but vowed that the White House would “get to the bottom of it.”
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“I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but of all the people out there, somehow this guy who has lied about the president, who has lied to Gold Star families, lied to their attorneys, and gone to Russia hoax, gone to just all kinds of lengths to lie and smear the president of the United States, and he’s the one that somehow gets on somebody’s contact and then gets sucked into this group,” Waltz moaned.
The national security adviser said that he doesn’t believe that Goldberg, whom he described as “vile,” was intentionally added to the group by a rogue White House staffer.
Waltz suggested that tech tycoon and Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk might be able to help the White House figure out what happened.
Here is the latest on the Yemen Signal group-chat:
- ‘I’m floored’: Experts reveal ‘really scary’ info shared by Trump officials in Signal group chat
- House Dems hint at perjury rap for intel chiefs over Signal chat leak: ‘A lie to the country’
- Steve Witkoff did not use Signal while in Russia, White House says
- Atlantic publishes more ‘war plan’ Signal texts, including minute-by-minute details and weapons to use in Yemen strikes
- Atlantic editor Jeff Goldberg weighs ‘obligation’ of releasing more ‘war plans’ texts – as he reveals undercover CIA agent’s identity was exposed
- Trump feels ‘very comfortable’ after being briefed on Houthi attack text scandal, blames ‘lower level’ Waltz staffer for mishap
- Trump national security team messaged plans for Yemen strikes to Atlantic editor-in-chief in stunning breach
“I just talked to Elon on the way here,” Waltz said. “We’ve got the best technical minds looking at how this happened.”
“But I can tell you for 100% — I don’t know this guy. I know him by his horrible reputation. And he really is the bottom scum of journalists,” he vehemently said of Goldberg.
Goldberg’s bombshell story revealed that he had connected with Waltz on Signal on March 11 and was added to a chat called “Houthi PC small group,” filled with top administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, two days later.
| THEY SAY … | BUT … |
|---|---|
| National security adviser Michael Waltz said, “I’ve never met, don’t know” and “never communicated with” Atlantic editor Jeffery Goldberg. President Trump says it was “one of Michael’s people” who added Goldberg to the Signal chat. | Atlantic top editor Jeffrey Goldberg says he received a Signal request “from a user identified as Michael Waltz.” Waltz told Fox News he created the group and somehow Goldberg’s contact number got “sucked” onto someone else’s name in his address book. |
| Officials including Trump insist no “classified information” was discussed. | Even if it doesn’t fit the definition of “classified,” it was certainly sensitive and the administration is against releasing the portions Goldberg held back. “Information about an active operation would presumably fit the law’s definition of ‘national defense’ information,” Goldberg says. |
| “I do not remember mention of specific targets,” said Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence. | “It was, ‘At 1:45, this is going to happen. At 1:52, this is going to happen,’ ” Goldberg insists. “The plan included precise information about weapons packages, targets and timing.” |
| It was an ordinary discussion and did not compromise national security, the White House insists. | “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,” Goldberg says. |
| Some commentators have suggested that Goldberg, a well-known liberal adversary of Trump, was added to the group on purpose by an aide trying to undermine the administration. | The White House hasn’t backed that theory and presumably they would very easily know exactly who added Goldberg. |
The journalist shared screenshots of the group’s deliberation ahead of the successful military operation, showing that Vance initially opposed the strikes over concerns that oil prices could spike and that the attacks would primarily benefit Europe.
Goldberg told CNN Monday that “war plans” and “attack plans” were also discussed, of which he did not include grabs due to national security concerns, including, “When targets were going to be targeted; how they were going to be targeted; who was at the targets; when the next sequence of attacks was happening.”
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Waltz insisted that “no classified information” was discussed in the text chain.
However, the Trump administration official said he doesn’t want the entire chain to be released by Goldberg.
“I certainly want our deliberations to stay confidential,” Waltz told Ingraham.
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“I don’t want it all out there,” he added, describing the Signal conversation as a “healthy policy debate.”
Trump on Tuesday described the Signal snafu as the “only glitch” his administration has had since he took office.
“And it turned out not to be a serious one,” the commander-in-chief said at the White House, indicating that he is standing behind Waltz and his team.
“Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” the president told NBC News in a brief interview, claiming that “It was one of Michael’s people on the phone” who included Goldberg on the chain.
