(WASHINGTON) — The White House said Monday a Signal group chat discussing a U.S. attack on Houthis in Yemen that inadvertently included Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, “appears to be authentic.”
Members of the Trump administration coordinated highly sensitive war plans on an unsecure group chat, Goldberg wrote in a report for the publication on Monday.
White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes shared with ABC News the statement he provided The Atlantic confirming the veracity of a Signal group chat, which Goldberg said included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, among others.
“At this time, the message thread that was reported appears 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 thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our servicemembers or our national security,” Hughes said in the statement.
Asked about the incident, President Donald Trump said he “doesn’t know anything about it,” and later added that he was hearing about it for the first time from the reporter who asked the question.
The Pentagon referred questions about Hegseth’s participation in the Signal discussion and the sharing of attack plans to the National Security Council and the White House.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce was asked about the Atlantic’s report — including why members of the Cabinet were having a classified conversation over Signal and whether Rubio was concerned about the implications of the incident.
“Well, I have two very short things to say to you: First is that we will not comment on the secretary’s deliberative conversations, and secondly, that you should contact the White House,” Bruce responded.
Democratic Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement, “The carelessness shown by President Trump’s cabinet is stunning and dangerous.”
“If true, this story represents one of the most egregious failures of operational security and common sense I have ever seen,” Reed said. “Military operations need to be handled with utmost discretion, using approved, secure lines of communication, because American lives are on the line.”
Other congressional Democrats expressed incredulity and called for investigations.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer urged Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Republicans to work with Democrats on a “full investigation” into the incident.
“Mr. President, this is one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence I have read about in a very, very long time,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “This kind of carelessness is how people get killed. It’s how our enemies can take advantage of us. It’s how our national security falls into danger.”
Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel, posted on X: Pete Hegseth, the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in history, is demonstrating his incompetence by literally leaking classified war plans in the group chat…Hegseth and Trump are making our country less safe.”
Delaware Sen. Chris Coons said the participants in the chat had “committed a crime — even if accidentally” and added, “We can’t trust anyone in this dangerous administration to keep Americans safe.”
Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego called the episode “Amateur hour.”
“These are the genuises [sic] that are also selling out Ukraine and destroying our alliances all around the world,” he added. “No wonder Putin is embarrassing them at the negotiation table.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson downplayed the incident, saying, “The administration is addressing what happened, apparently, an inadvertent phone number made it onto that thread. They’re going to track that down and make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”
Pushed if conducting such a discussion on on a third-party app was irresponsible, Johnson replied, “Look, I’m not going to characterize what happened. I think the administration has acknowledged it was a mistake, and they’ll tighten up and make sure it doesn’t happen again. I don’t know what else you can say.”
Johnson added he doesn’t believe Waltz or Hegseth should be disciplined.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who faced Republican criticism over her use of a private email server while at the State Department, wrote on X, “You have got to be kidding me.”
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Shannon K. Kingston, John Parkinson, Jay O’Brien and Oren Oppenheim contributed to this report.
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