WASHINGTON, April 7. /TASS/. Donald Trump's national security advisor Mike Waltz has added The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to the chat room in the Signal messenger instead of US National Security Council Spokesman Brian Hughes due to his incorrectly saved number, CBS reported, citing sources.
According to the TV channel, in October 2024, Goldberg sent a letter to the campaign headquarters of US President Donald Trump. Hughes forwarded this message to Waltz. According to an unnamed source, the NSC spokesman also asked Waltz to keep his new number. Waltz, however, saved Golberg's number as Hughes' new number. An internal White House check confirmed that neither official had previously contacted The Atlantic's editor-in-chief.
It is noted that Waltz made numerous calls and sent messages to Hughes' real number. According to CBS, the mix-up occurred during a trip by the US president's national security advisor to Saudi Arabia for talks with a Ukrainian delegation in early March. When he set up the chat, he used Hughes' wrong number from the phone book.
On March 24, The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg published an article in which he said he received 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, Vice President JD Vance, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard and others.
For several days, "a fascinating policy discussion" was conducted in the chat, the article said. 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.
Trump said that the abovementioned group did not leak classified data. The US president said that he trusted all members of his national security team, including Waltz, despite the data leak scandal. Waltz, in turn, said he did not know why Goldberg was included in the closed group.