Report: Phone mishap led US security chief to add reporter to Yemen war chat on Signal
Probe finds that, months earlier, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz inadvertently saved journalist Jeffrey Goldberg’s number under name of now NSC spokesperson Brian Hughes
US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz added a journalist to a confidential chat group about a planned strike on Yemen after months earlier accidentally saving the reporter’s number under someone else’s details, the UK Guardian newspaper reported Sunday.
Waltz last month included The Atlantic magazine editor Jeffrey Goldberg in a Signal group chat where senior Trump administration officials discussed upcoming strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen, including the schedule for the attack.
The White House launched an internal investigation into the affair, which uncovered a chain of events that led to Goldberg’s number being in Waltz’s phone, three people briefed on the matter told the Guardian.
It started last October when Goldberg sent an email to the Trump presidential campaign for a story about the Republican then-presidential candidate and his attitude toward wounded members of the military. The Trump team sought help from Waltz, at the time its national security expert. The email, with Goldberg’s contact details — including his phone number — was forwarded to Trump spokesperson Brian Hughes, who copied and pasted it into a text message sent on to Waltz.
Though Waltz did not call Goldberg, a feature on his iPhone spotted the journalist’s phone number in the text message and suggested updating it into the contact details for Hughes, an error that went ahead.
After Trump returned to the White House, Hughes became the National Security Council spokesperson. When the Signal chat “Houthi PC small group” was set up to discuss the Yemen strikes, Waltz tried to add Hughes to the group but inadvertently used the Goldberg number.
The group, on the Signal messaging app, included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, Waltz and 12 other officials.
As a result, Goldberg was exposed to discussions between the top officials about the strikes, which he then reported on after the bombings went ahead.
Waltz has said that he never met or spoke with Goldberg and told Fox News that he believed the journalist’s number was “sucked” into his phone.
Trump was briefed on the findings of the White House probe, the report said. At around that time, he also decided against firing Waltz, which he had considered doing, a source familiar with the developments told the newspaper.
Trump was initially infuriated that Waltz had Goldberg’s number due to his intense dislike for The Atlantic, but chose not to dismiss him, in part because he didn’t want to be seen as getting rid of a senior cabinet member so soon after taking office, the report said.
“Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” Trump said to NBC News in announcing his decision to keep him on.
Waltz has been a firm and outspoken backer of Israel throughout his career. He is seen as an Iran hawk, and represents a traditional, muscular Republican foreign policy approach, as opposed to an emerging isolationist wing in the current administration.
Trump also told NBC that the slip-up had “no impact at all” on military operations against the Houthis. He says he has confidence in his team, with this being “the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one.”
The Times of Israel Community.