Top Trump officials include Atlantic editors in group chat to bomb Yemen’s plans

Washington – Senior Trump officials, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance, allegedly discussed the highly sensitive operation in a panel chat to bomb the details of Houthi’s targets, which inadvertently included Atlantic general manager Jeffrey Goldberg.

With a cabinet meeting at the White House Monday afternoon, Goldberg published an article detailing how he was added to the chat earlier this month through an account that shared the name of White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. Later, Goldberg said an account called “Peter Heggs” had a plan Yemen strike This includes precise information about the “weapon packages, targets and timing” shortly before the attack.

The National Security Council said the information seemed “real” in a statement to CBS News after the story was published.

“At present, the reported message thread seems to be real and we are reviewing how to add unintentional numbers to the chain,” a spokesperson for the National Security Council said. “The thread demonstrates a profound and thoughtful policy coordination among senior officials. The ongoing success of Houthi’s action shows that there is no threat to our service staff or to our national security.”

Asked about the Goldberg story at the White House Monday afternoon, President Trump told reporters he hadn’t heard of it.

“I know nothing about it,” the president replied. “I’m not a big fan of the Atlantic. To me, it’s a magazine, and it’s going bankrupt. I don’t think it’s a magazine. But I know nothing about it.”

Goldberg said in the article that he received a connection request for the signal on March 11, with the user’s name “Mike Waltz” without explanation. On March 13, Goldberg said he was added to the signal titled “Houthi PC Group”, which he believed was a reference for a “president’s committee” or a group of senior officials.

According to Goldberg, the chat appears to include other senior Trump officials, including Vice President Judd Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Intelligence Director Talsey Gabbad, Treasury Secretary Scott Best and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, among others.

Goldberg wrote that he initially expressed doubts about the authenticity of the group, saying he believed it could be “part of a false propaganda campaign” or an effort to embarrass journalists.

“I strongly doubt that this text group is true because I can’t believe that the U.S. national security leadership will signal the upcoming war plan,” Goldberg wrote.

Houthis, an Iran-backed rebel group in Yemen, attacked commercial ships and warships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden for more than a year, threatening maritime trade. Hushis justified the attack in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The president said last week that he believed Iran was behind the attack and warned that it would “suffer from the consequences of additional strikes.”

On March 14, officials in the Signal Chat debated the timing of the action against the group, Goldberg said. The name “JD Vance” is a concern that taking action against Europe will benefit Europe when Mr. Trump has been forcing Europe to force Europe to Europe while he has been placing it on European allies.

“I’m not sure how inconsistent the president is now with the information he has in Europe. We have further risks and we’re seeing moderate to severe surge in oil prices,” Goldberg said. “I’m willing to support the consensus of the team and keep those attention to myself. But there’s a strong argument to delay this figure for a month, do messaging work to understand why it’s important, see where the economy is, etc.”

Goldberg wrote: “Hergs replied: “Vice President: I understand your concerns – and fully support you in raising POTUS. Important considerations, most of which are difficult to know their performance (economic, Ukraine, Ukrainian peace, Gaza, etc.). I think messaging will be tough anyway – no one knows who is who – who is who, we need to work hard.

On Saturday, March 15, Hegseth released an update, with others responding in texts Goldberg said it would not be published because “if they were read by U.S. opponents, the information contained in it could be used to harm U.S. military and intelligence personnel, especially in the wider Middle East Command, especially in the Middle East, Central Command.”

“I’m going to say that to illustrate the shocking recklessness of this signal conversation, the Hergs Post contains details of the upcoming operational strike against Yemen, including information about the targets, weapons and attack sequences that the United States will deploy.”

Goldberg said Heggs told the group that the strike against Hottis would begin at 1:45 p.m. ET.

He wrote: “So I was waiting for my car in a supermarket parking lot. If I thought, if this signal chat was real, the Houthi target would be bombed soon. At about 1:55, I checked X and searched Yemen. Then I heard an explosion in the capital Sanaa.”

He said he checked the signal chat and found a series of congratulatory messages from Waltz and others:

“I concluded that the Signal Chat Team was almost certainly real. Realizing this recognition, it seemed that only a few hours later, I moved myself away from the Signal Team and learned that this would trigger an automatic notification to the group’s creator, Michael Waltz, my departure,” Goldberg continued. ” “No one noticed me there during the chat. I did not receive any questions about the reasons why I left, or, who am I, who am I. ”

At 2:29 pm, Mr. Trump released a message about the truth society’s announcement of the attack.

“Today, I order the U.S. military to launch decisive and powerful military operations against Houthi terrorists in Yemen. They have carried out a ruthless campaign against piracy, violence and terrorism against the United States and others, ships, aircraft and drones,” Trump wrote. “The Houthi attacks on U.S. ships will not be tolerated. We will use overwhelming lethal forces before we achieve our goal.”

On Monday afternoon, Democratic Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, a ranking member of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, said the incident said, “it represents one of the most shocking failures of operational safety and common sense I have ever seen.” ”

“Because of the life in the United States online, President Trump’s cabinet has shown amazing and dangerous carelessness that requires the use of approved, secure communication methods to handle military operations as much as possible,” Reed said in a statement. “I will seek the government’s answer right away.”