The Atlantic published the U.S. attack plans that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared on the Signal messaging app, in a group chat that included other top Trump administration officials and, by mistake, the media outlet’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg.
In his initial story about being added to the text chain, Goldberg withheld Hegseth’s texts about the attack plans, describing them in generalities rather than specifics out of concern that publication could jeopardize the lives of U.S. military personnel. The top administration officials were texting about planned strikes on Houthis rebels in Yemen.
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But in their response to the bombshell story, Trump administration officials have insisted that the information shared on Signal was not classified, while they also tried to discredit Goldberg, attacking his past pieces for The Atlantic. In testimony before Congress on Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe also said that the material shared was not classified, and Trump also made the assertion later in the day. Hegseth had insisted that no one was texting war plans.
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In a new piece, Goldberg and Shane Harris wrote, “The statements by Hegseth, Gabbard, Ratcliffe, and Trump—combined with the assertions made by numerous administration officials that we are lying about the content of the Signal texts—have led us to believe that people should see the texts in order to reach their own conclusions. There is a clear public interest in disclosing the sort of information that Trump advisers included in nonsecure communications channels, especially because senior administration figures are attempting to downplay the significance of the messages that were shared.”
In the texts that were published, Hegseth gives details of when the operation is to be launched, the time of first strikes and that drones were aimed at “target terrorist.” “THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP,” Hegseth noted.
Minutes after the first target strike, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz offered details on the damage done and some information on who among the Houthi leadership was hit.
Goldberg and Harris wrote, “This Signal message shows that the U.S. secretary of defense texted a group that included a phone number unknown to him—Goldberg’s cellphone—at 11:44 a.m. This was 31 minutes before the first U.S. warplanes launched, and two hours and one minute before the beginning of a period in which a primary target, the Houthi “Target Terrorist,” was expected to be killed by these American aircraft. If this text had been received by someone hostile to American interests—or someone merely indiscreet, and with access to social media—the Houthis would have had time to prepare for what was meant to be a surprise attack on their strongholds. The consequences for American pilots could have been catastrophic.”
Goldberg and Harris wrote that they contacted top administration officials if they objected to the publication of the full texts. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded by again saying that there was “no classified information transmitted in the group chat.” But she also said that they did object to the release because it was an “internal and private deliberation amongst high-level senior staff and sensitive information was discussed.” They continued to withhold the name of a CIA officer mentioned in the chat by Ratcliffe. He had told lawmakers that the person was not undercover, but a CIA spokesperson requested that they not publish the name.
After the publication of the latest texts, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt seemed to lean into the characterization of the texts as “war plans” vs. “attack plans.” The Atlantic headline in Goldberg’s initial story called the texts “war plans”; the latest piece uses the term “attack plans.”
Leavitt wrote on X, “The Atlantic has conceded: these were NOT ‘war plans.’ This entire story was another hoax written by a Trump-hater who is well-known for his sensationalist spin.”
In an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Goldberg reacted to Leavitt’s comment, saying, “I don’t even understand what that means. They’re talking about attacking and killing terrorists using various weapon systems. So she’s just playing at some sort of weird semantic game.”
Hegseth wrote on X, “The Atlantic released the so-called ‘war plans’ and those ‘plans’ include: No names. No targets. No locations. No units. No routes. No sources. No methods. And no classified information.”
Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told CNN that Hegseth’s claim that no war plans were shared is “untruthful.”
Allies, he said, “see this kind of incompetency that is public and reflected and pretty clear. That just goes deeper into their mistrust and lack of confidence in us, and there are consequences for that.”
