President Trump and his aides mounted a defense Wednesday of the administration’s accidental release of missile attack plans to a journalist, telling lawmakers the mistake didn’t affect the successful military operation in Yemen and that no classified information was revealed.
The White House press briefing got contentious as reporters repeatedly asked how the blunder could have occurred, while press secretary Karoline Leavitt characterized the incident as minor and disparaged the journalist who published portions of the group chat days after the attack.
Editor-in-chief of The Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg found himself added to the group chat on Signal earlier this month that included top administration officials, including Vice President J.D. Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, among others.
Messages from the chats discussed the timing of the March 15 airstrike attacks on Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Ms. Leavitt on Wednesday went after Mr. Goldberg, whose outlet published more of the chat messages for a second consecutive day.
“If this story proves anything, it proves that Democrats and their propagandists in the mainstream media know how to fabricate, orchestrate and disseminate a misinformation campaign quite well, and there’s arguably no one in the media who loves manufacturing and pushing coaches more than Jeffrey Goldberg,” Ms. Leavitt said at the briefing, bashing Mr. Goldberg and his wife for being Democrats.
But some congressional Republicans expressed concern, too. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger F. Wicker of Mississippi told The Hill on Wednesday that he would be asking the Defense Department’s inspector general to investigate.
President Trump himself has brushed off the incident, saying Wednesday, “There weren’t details, and there was nothing in there that compromised. And it had no impact on the attack, which was very successful.”
Mr. Waltz, who created the chat and added Mr. Goldberg, said he takes “full responsibility.”
“No locations. No sources & methods. NO WAR PLANS. Foreign partners had already been notified that strikes were imminent. BOTTOM LINE: President Trump is protecting America and our interests,” he wrote on X.
The second Atlantic report included screenshots of messages from Mr. Hegseth, with times and sequencing of planned U.S. strikes against Houthi rebels.
At 12:15 p.m. Eastern, Mr. Hegseth texted, “F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package).”
Another: “1345: ’Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s)”
And even more: “1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ’Trigger Based’ targets)”
Ms. Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe were grilled on the incident in Congress for a second consecutive day, this time at a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence hearing that was long scheduled before the Signal leak. On Wednesday, Ms. Gabbard acknowledged it was a “mistake” that a journalist was added but refused to characterize the information disclosed as classified.
The hearing had heated moments. Rep. Jim Himes, Connecticut Democrat and ranking member of the panel, scolded administration officials for blaming Mr. Goldberg instead of taking responsibility for the inadvertent leak of military operations.
“There’s only one response to a mistake of this magnitude: You apologize, you own it, and you stop everything until you can figure out what went wrong and how it might not ever happen again,” Mr. Himes told Ms. Gabbard and Mr. Ratcliffe. “That’s not what happened.”
Rep. Jimmy Gomez, California Democrat, questioned the two officials whether Mr. Hegseth had been drinking during the group texts. Ms. Gabbard said she didn’t have “any knowledge of Secretary Hegseth’s personal habits,” but Mr. Ratcliffe responded more bluntly.
“I’m not going to answer that. I think that’s an offensive line of question. The answer is, no,” he said.
Before heading to Guam on Wednesday, Mr. Hegseth defended himself and others saying, “Nobody is texting war plans.”
“There’s no units, no locations, no routes, no flight paths, no sources, no methods, no classified information,” he said. “You know who sees war plans? I see them. Every single day.”
