Trump casts Yemen leak as ‘glitch,’ says official responsible has ‘learned a lesson’
US president claims one of national security adviser Waltz’s staffers added journalist to encrypted chat where airstrikes on Houthis were discussed — not Waltz himself
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday dismissed the accidental addition of a journalist to a group chat about Yemen airstrikes as a “glitch” and stood by his top national security team despite the stunning breach.
Trump’s administration faces mounting pressure following a report on Monday by The Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg about the conversation on the Signal encrypted messaging app, but the US president told broadcaster NBC in a phone interview that he will not fire National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, the senior aide responsible.
The chat about attacks on Iran-backed Houthi rebels involved some of the administration’s most senior officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, and Waltz.
Trump, who returned to the White House in January, told NBC that the breach was “the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one.”
The president added that Waltz, his top security official in the White House, “has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man.”
Goldberg said he had received a connection request from a user identified as Michael Waltz on Signal. Trump said, however, that “it was one of Michael’s people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there.”
Trump also told NBC that the slip-up had “no impact at all” on military operations against the Houthis. He said 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.”
Trump and Waltz spoke Monday when Goldberg published the story, two officials told NBC.
The White House had earlier pushed back more forcefully on day two of the scandal, after confirming the breach on Monday.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X on Tuesday that “no ‘war plans’ were discussed” and “no classified material was sent to the thread.”
She also attacked Goldberg as being “well-known for his sensationalist spin.”
Hegseth, a former Fox News host with no experience running a massive organization like the Pentagon, also said late Monday that “nobody was texting war plans.”
But top Democrats condemned the breach, saying it was potentially illegal and calling for an investigation as to why officials were using a commercially available app for sensitive discussions.
Leavitt said the White House’s Counsel’s Office “has provided guidance on a number of different platforms for President Trump’s top officials to communicate as safely and efficiently as possible.”
The White House was also “looking into how Goldberg’s number was inadvertently added to the thread.”
‘European free-loading’
Trump announced the strikes on the Houthis on March 15, but Goldberg said he had hours of advance notice via the group chat.
Two other officials on the chat, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA chief John Ratcliffe, were due to speak to the US Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.
The panel’s Republican chair, Senator Tom Cotton, told Fox and Friends on Tuesday that the group chat issue “will come up” at the hearing.
“John Ratcliffe, Tulsi Gabbard, and the other leaders will have a chance to address it, but I do hope that we keep the focus on the decisive action that the president took against these outlaw rebels in Yemen,” Cotton said.
Journalist Goldberg said he was added to the group chat two days before the Yemen strikes and received messages from other top government officials designating representatives who would work on the issue.
The leak could have been highly damaging if Goldberg had publicized details of the plan in advance, but he did not do so.
But the report did reveal details of what top White House officials think about key allies.
A person identified as Vance expressed doubts about carrying out the strikes, saying he hated “bailing Europe out again,” as countries there were more affected by Houthi attacks on shipping than the United States.
Contributors identified as Hegseth and Waltz both sent messages arguing only Washington had the capability to carry out the strikes, with the Pentagon chief saying he shared Vance’s “loathing of European free-loading” and calling them “pathetic.”
The Houthi rebels, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are part of the “axis of resistance” of pro-Iran groups staunchly opposed to Israel and the United States.
They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks at ships passing Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden during the Israel-Hamas war, vessels with no known Israeli connections, saying they are acting out of solidarity with the Palestinians.
The Houthis began attacking the vital Red Sea maritime route in November 2023, a month after fellow Iran-backed terror group Hamas stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
The group has targeted over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors during their campaign targeting ships from November 2023 until January of this year. They also launched attacks targeting American warships, though none have been hit so far.
The attacks greatly raised the Houthis’ profile as they faced economic problems and launched a crackdown targeting any dissent and aid workers at home during Yemen’s decade-long stalemated war that has torn apart the Arab world’s poorest nation.
The Houthis — whose slogan is “Death to America, death to Israel, a curse upon the Jews” — paused their attacks after Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire and hostage deal in January. Since the fighting in Gaza resumed last week, the Houthis have resumed missile fire on Israel and attacks on Red Sea shipping.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
