In a story that sounds like something straight outta a political thriller, the Trump Administration accidentally texts journalist war plans—for real. The embarrassing moment happened when The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, got tossed into a super sensitive Signal group chat by mistake. The convo? Plans to strike Houthi targets in Yemen. Yes, you read that right. Top Trump officials were out here discussing classified military moves in a group thread—and accidentally invited a whole journalist into it.
According to Goldberg, the chat wasn’t just some regular group. It included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, and was initiated by a user calling themselves Mike Waltz, the name of the current White House National Security Adviser. On March 13, Goldberg says he was pulled into a Signal group called “Houthi PC small group”, which he interpreted as a reference to a “principals committee”—a crew of top-level decision-makers.
Goldberg wrote that “Pete Hegseth” straight up dropped war plans in the chat—breaking down “weapons packages, targets, and timing” for the operation in Yemen.
How Did This Happen? National Security Council Reacts
After the story dropped, the National Security Council didn’t deny it—at all. In fact, they confirmed to CBS News that the messages “appear to be authentic.” That’s a big deal.
“At this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain,” a National Security Council spokesperson told CBS.
They went on to say that this situation—embarrassing as it is—doesn’t seem to have put any troops or national security at risk.
“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 our service members or our national security.”
That statement didn’t do much to calm critics online who questioned how a journalist’s phone number ended up in a high-level group chat discussing war.
Trump Responds: “I Don’t Know Anything About It”
Of course, when asked about it during a press moment at the White House, President Trump kept it cool—but dismissive.
“I don’t know anything about it,” the president said. “I’m not a big fan of The Atlantic. It’s, 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.”
Classic Trump. He brushed it off and took the opportunity to bash The Atlantic, rather than address the security slip-up. Whether he truly didn’t know, or just didn’t want to talk about it, is up for debate. But what’s clear is—this wasn’t a minor oops.
Jeffrey Goldberg’s article also said the chat included other big names like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
