White House national security adviser Mike Waltz commented publicly for the first time Tuesday since the editor of a magazine was inadvertently invited into a group thread about military plans in the Middle East.
At a meeting at the White House, Waltz said he has “never met” and “never communicated” with Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, The Hill reported.
“There’s a lot of journalists in this city who have made big names for themselves making up lies about this president,” Waltz said. “Whether it’s the Russia hoax or making up lies about Gold Star families, and this one in particular I’ve never met, don’t know, never communicated with, and we are looking into and reviewing how the heck he got into this room.”
Waltz’s comments echoed those of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday.
“You're talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who's made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again to include the, I don't know, the hoaxes of ‘Russia, Russia, Russia’ or the ‘fine people on both sides’ hoax. Or ‘suckers and losers’ hoax,” Hegseth said, referring to past reports about President Donald Trump that were ultimately refuted.
Trump earlier Tuesday told NBC News that Goldberg accidentally got added to the group thread in the Signal app via "one of Michael’s people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there,” Trump said.
In that interview, Trump also stood by Waltz, calling him a “good man” and saying he “has learned a lesson.”
In an article released Monday, Goldberg wrote that on March 11 he received a "connection request" on the Signal app from Waltz, which he accepted, thinking that Waltz "wanted to chat about Ukraine, or Iran, or some other important matter."
According to Goldberg, Vice President J.D. Vance, Hegseth and Waltz used the group chat to discuss possible military action in Yemen against the Houthis, the terrorist group responsible for attacks on shipping lanes in the region. Goldberg noted that one post from Hegseth "contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post to X on Tuesday morning that "No 'war plans' were discussed," and "2. No classified material was sent to the thread."
Trump told NBC News it was "the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one.”
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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