Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, said national security advisor Michael Waltz inadvertently added him to a group chat with Trump administration officials discussing war strikes in Yemen and other highly sensitive matters of national security.
Goldberg recounted the implausible situation in The Atlantic on Monday, starting from the moment earlier this month Waltz added him to the 18-person group chat on Signal ― something he first assumed was part of an elaborate hoax or disinformation campaign ― to his realization that President Donald Trump’s top national security players were actually tinkering with war plans over a text thread.
In addition to Waltz, officials Goldberg seemingly identified in the group chat included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who he says sent information that our adversaries could have “used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East;” Vice President JD Vance; Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence; and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Goldberg said the situation he was in “became truly bizarre” on March 15, four days after Waltz added him to the conversation. At around 11:44 a.m. ET, Hegseth texted the group “precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing” of U.S. strikes on Yemen set to happen about two hours later. When those strikes took place as planned, Goldberg viewed the text thread as legitimate.
“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 wrote.
The Atlantic editor decided to leave the group chat at that point. When he reached out to officials to inquire about the validity of the chat, National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes confirmed to him that the thread was real. Hughes sent the same statement to HuffPost when reached for comment... (our emphasis)
From now on whenever the names of Michael "Slow" Waltz, DUI hire Defense Secretary Hegseth or any of the other clowns on that group chat pops up, their titles must be for ever more in joke quotes: "National Security" Advisor, "Defense" Secretary, etc. Elect a clown, something something...
BONUS: Waltz will be the fall guy, according to reports. "Mike Waltz is a fucking idiot." That goes for all of them.
BONUS II: Then and now --
(Photo: "National Security" Advisor Waltz and another clown / Waltz's Twitter feed)
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