The White House said on Monday a group of signals that discussed an American attack against Houthis in Yemen that inadvertently included Jeffrey Goldberg, an Atlantic chief editor, “seems to be authentic.”
The Trump administration members coordinated highly sensitive war plans in the group chat not sure, Goldberg wrote in A report for publication Mondays.
The spokesman for the White House National Security Council, Brian Hughes, shared with ABC News the statement he provided to the Atlantic confirming the veracity of a chat of a signal group, which Goldberg said he seemed to include the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, vice president JD Vance, the National Security Advisor of the White House, Mike Waltz, and the Secretary of State Framework, among others.
“At this time, the thread of the message that was reported seems to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain. The thread is a demonstration of the deep and reflective political coordination between the high officials. The current success of Operation Hutí demonstrates that there were no threats to our service services or our national security,” Hughes said in the statement.
When asked about the incident, President Donald Trump said “he knows nothing about it,” and then added that he was listening to the journalist who asked the question for the first time.
The Pentagon sent questions about Hegseth’s participation in the discussion of the signal and the exchange of attack plans to the National Security Council and the White House.
The spokesman for the State Department, Tammy Bruce, was asked about the Atlantic report, including why the cabinet members were having a classified conversation about the signal and if Rubio was concerned about the implications of the incident.
“Well, I have two very short things to tell you: first we will not comment on the secretary’s deliberative conversations and, secondly, that you must contact the White House,” Bruce replied.
Defense Secretary Peter Heghseth listens while President Donald Trump offers comments at the Oval Office of the White House, on March 21, 2025 in Washington.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
-ABC News’ Luis Martínez and Shannon K. Kingston contributed to this report.
This is a development story. Consult the updates again.
