Politics
Karoline Leavitt Exposes Journalist Who Infiltrated DoD Group Chat, Crushes ‘Sensationalist’ Story
The Atlantic reporter who infiltrated a secretive group chat between members of the Trump administration’s national security team relied on “sensationalist” claims to push his bombshell story, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt asserted on Tuesday.
In a fiery missive on X, President Donald Trump’s top spokeswoman said Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg is “well-known” for adding “sensationalist spin” to his stories. The outlet often serves as a punching bag for conservative influencers and reporters who regularly ridicule its headlines and even suggest some of their own in viral social media posts that make it hard to discern fact from fiction.
On Monday, Goldberg reported that he was inadvertently invited to a group Signal chat by White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz where U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President J.D. Vance, and others were said to be discussing imminent plans to bomb Houthi rebels in Yemen. Goldberg wrote that Hegseth shared “war plans” outlining the attack approximately several hours before it occurred.
“What I will say, in order to illustrate the shocking recklessness of this Signal conversation, is that the Hegseth post contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing,” Goldberg said, referring to Hegseth.
Not so, replied Leavitt.
“No ‘war plans’ were discussed. No classified material was sent to the thread. The White House 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,” Leavitt wrote.
“As the National Security Council stated, the White House is looking into how Goldberg’s number was inadvertently added to the thread,” she added. “Thanks to the strong and decisive leadership of President Trump, and everyone in the group, the Houthi strikes were successful and effective. Terrorists were killed and that’s what matters most to President Trump.”
President Trump, speaking with reporters on Monday shortly after the story broke, insisted he had not heard about it and that regardless of what may have occurred, the bombing mission was carried out flawlessly.
“You mean the attack on the Houthis? Well, it couldn’t have been very effective because the attack was very effective,” Trump said about the allegation that “war plans” were shared, according to The Hill. “I don’t know anything about it, you’re telling me about it for the first time.”
He added The Atlantic is “not much of a magazine.”
Still, the story’s claims continued to reverberate across Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. White House insiders, speaking anonymously with the Wall Street Journal, said most staffers are in a wait-and-see mode about Waltz’s future.
Although it wasn’t immediately clear whether President Trump would demand Waltz resign, sources said he is keen to protect Hegseth and that replacing his national security advisor, which does not require Senate confirmation, would be far easier.
“Trump asked aides on Monday how Waltz could be so sloppy,” one official told the outlet.
