WASHINGTON, March 25. /TASS/. The US administration is working to figure out how Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was added to a private chat on the Signal messaging service discussing military operations in Yemen, US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said during President Donald Trump’s White House meeting with candidates for ambassadors to various countries.
"Yes, Mr. President, you asked about lessons [learned]. I think there's a lot of lessons. There's a lot of journalists in this city who have made big names for themselves making up lies about this president, whether it's the Russia hoax <...>, and this one in particular [Goldberg], I've never met, don't know, never communicated with, and we are, and we are looking into him, reviewing how the heck he got into this room," Waltz noted.
Earlier, Goldberg said in a story he published that he had got a request to join Signal, an encrypted messaging app, from a "Mike Waltz" on March 11. He was then included in a group chat dubbed "Houthi PC small group" with what appeared to be other top administration officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance.
For several days, "a fascinating policy discussion" was conducted in the chat, the story says. According to the editor, on March 15, user "Pete Hegseth" posted a message that contained details of planned strikes against the Houthis, including targets, weapons, and the estimated time of the start of the strikes, which, according to Goldberg, coincided with the time of publication of the first messages about the bombing on social networks.
Goldberg said that Brian Hughes, spokesman for the National Security Council, confirmed the veracity of the Signal group. "This appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain," Hughes said.
On March 15, the US started to carry out massive strikes on Houthi facilities in Yemen based on an order from President Donald Trump. The US Central Command said that the goal was to defend American interests and restore freedom of navigation.