Newscasts - White House mistakenly shares Yemen war plans with a journalist

Pegasystems

25/03/2025 08:04

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Source: 'Reuters - General news videos'

Description: Top Trump administration officials mistakenly disclosed war plans in a messaging group that included a journalist shortly before the U.S. attacked Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis, the White House said on Monday (March 24), following a first-hand account by The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg. Gabe Singer reports.

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Video Transcript:

Top Trump Administration officials mistakenly texted war plans to a group that included a journalist, the White House said on Monday in a misstep that has drawn swift condemnation from Democratic lawmakers. The editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg said in a report on Monday that on March 13, he was unexpectedly invited onto an encrypted group chat on Signal messenger called the Houthi PC small group. Messages in the group made Goldberg aware that large-scale US strikes on Yemen's Houthi rebels were coming hours before they started. The strikes over Houthi attacks against Red Sea shipping came on March 15. Before they began, Goldberg said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted operational details about the plan in the group, including, "information about targets," weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing. The chat also included accounts that appear to represent Vice President JD Vance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and others. At one point, the person identified as Vance appeared to question whether US allies in Europe more exposed to shipping disruption in the Red Sea deserved US help. A person identified as Hegseth replied, "VP, I fully share your loathing of European freeloading. It's pathetic. " Trump's nominee for National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent was apparently also on the Signal chain, despite not yet being confirmed by the Senate. White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said the chat appeared to be authentic and that the NSC was reviewing how, "inadvertent number had been added. " When asked about The Atlantic report on Monday, Hegseth denied sharing war plans in the chat and attacked Goldberg's credibility.

So, 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 hopes. So, this is a guy that peddles in garbage. This is what he does.

Why were those details shared on Signal? And how did you learn that a journalist was privy to the targets, the types of weapons used.

I've heard it was characterized. Nobody was texting war plans. And that's all I have to say about that. Thank you.

An interview on CNN late on Monday, Goldberg responded to Hegseth’s denial saying, "No, that's a lie. He was texting war plans."

Mr. President, this is one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence I have read about in a very, very long time.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democratic lawmakers have called the use of the Signal group illegal and demanded an investigation.

I don't know anything about it.

Trump told reporters at the White House Monday that he was unaware of the group chat incident. The White House has given no sign so far that the breach would lead to any staffing changes.