白宫周一表示，一个讨论美国袭击也门胡塞人的信号群聊无意中包括了《大西洋》主编杰弗里·戈德堡，“似乎是真实的。”
戈德堡在中写道，特朗普政府的成员在不安全的群聊上协调了高度敏感的战争计划出版物的报道星期一。
白宫国家安全委员会发言人布莱恩·休斯(Brian Hughes)向美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)分享了他向《大西洋月刊》(The Atlantic)提供的声明，证实了一个信号群聊的真实性，戈德堡说，这个群聊似乎包括国防部长皮特·黑格斯(Pete Hegseth)、副总统JD·万斯(JD Vance)、白宫国家安全顾问迈克·瓦尔兹(Mike Waltz)和国务卿马尔科·卢比奥等。
“此时，所报告的消息线索似乎是真实的，我们正在审查一个无意中添加到链中的数字。这条线索展示了高级官员之间深入而周到的政策协调。休斯在声明中说:“胡塞行动的持续成功表明，我们的军人或我们的国家安全没有受到威胁。”。
这一披露引发了愤怒和怀疑，包括前国务卿希拉里·克林顿，她在2016年总统大选输给特朗普的前几天在国务院使用私人电子邮件服务器，一直受到批评。
“你一定是在跟我开玩笑，”克林顿在x上发帖说。
赫格塞斯对戈德堡对周一晚些时候聊天的描述提出了质疑。
“我听说过它是如何被描述的。没有人发战争计划短信，这就是我要说的，”海格塞思在亚洲之行的夏威夷中途停留后不久说道。
海格塞斯批评戈德堡是“一个骗人的、非常不可信的所谓记者，他一次又一次地以兜售骗局为职业，包括俄罗斯、俄罗斯、俄罗斯或双方的好人、希望或傻瓜和失败者的骗局。”
“这就是那个踩垃圾的家伙。这就是他所做的，”他补充道。
当被问及此事时，总统唐纳德·特朗普说他“对此一无所知”，后来又补充说，他是从提问的记者那里第一次听说这件事的。
特朗普后来似乎嘲笑了这个故事，在他的真实社交平台上转发了他的顾问埃隆·马斯克在X上的一篇帖子，上面写道，“隐藏尸体的最佳地点是《大西洋》杂志的第二页，因为从来没有人去过那里”
戈德堡告诉美国广播公司新闻直播主播林西·戴维斯(Linsey Davis)，他最初回应了一个自称是华尔兹(Waltz)的人的连接请求，后来，随着被识别为华尔兹的用户与其他白宫高级官员一起进行群聊，讨论也门的军事行动，有人在他身上“运行一个骗局”。
“实际上，我认为这种想法的主要原因是，对我来说，美国国家安全领导层将在一个信息应用程序上开会讨论即将到来的军事行动，然后他们还会邀请《大西洋》杂志的编辑参加这场对话，这似乎是完全荒谬的，”他说。
“然后当攻击似乎进展顺利时，他们开始分享祝贺文本，包括表情符号，拳头表情符号，火表情符号，美国国旗表情符号。他说:“那就是那一天，我意识到，‘哦，这可能令人难以置信，美国领导人在我的信息应用上讨论这件事。”。
当被问及他意识到聊天是真实的时的反应时，戈德堡说，“老实说，我的反应是，‘我认为我发现了美国国家安全系统中的一个大规模安全漏洞’，也就是说，如果《大西洋月刊》的总编辑被授权访问这种信息，武器系统和包裹，也门的时间和天气，以及关于特定事件顺序的各种信息，那么显然存在安全漏洞。”
五角大楼将有关黑格斯参与信号讨论和分享攻击计划的问题提交给国家安全委员会和白宫。
国务院发言人塔米·布鲁斯(Tammy Bruce)被问及《大西洋月刊》的报道，包括为什么内阁成员在Signal上进行机密谈话，以及卢比奥是否担心该事件的影响。
“嗯，我有两件非常简短的事情要告诉你:第一，我们不会对国务卿的审慎谈话发表评论，第二，你应该与白宫联系，”布鲁斯回应道。
参议院军事委员会(Senate Armed Services Committee)资深成员、民主党参议员杰克·里德(Jack Reed)在一份声明中表示，“特朗普总统内阁表现出的粗心大意令人震惊，也很危险。”
“如果是真的，这个故事代表了我所见过的最严重的操作安全和常识的失败，”里德说。“军事行动需要使用经过批准的安全通信线路，以最大限度的谨慎来处理，因为美国人的生命危在旦夕。”
其他国会民主党人表示怀疑，并呼吁进行调查。
众议院少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯(Hakeem Jeffries)称这一事件是“鲁莽、不负责任和危险的”
“这些人非常不合格，不负责任，他们正在危及美国的国家安全，”他在谈到特朗普政府时说。
“整个特朗普政府充满了走狗和无能的亲信。不过，我不是在谈论任何特定的个人，”他补充道。“我会注意到，在这条链条上的国防部长是美国历史上领导五角大楼最不合格的人。想想看。”
在周一晚些时候的一份声明中，杰弗里斯对国防部长的批评更加直言不讳。
杰弗里斯说:“这是又一个前所未有的例子，表明由于包括国防部长在内的鲁莽和平庸的个人的崛起，我们的国家越来越危险。”
参议院民主党领袖查克·舒默敦促参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩和参议院共和党人与民主党人合作，对这一事件进行“全面调查”。
“总统先生，这是我在非常非常长的时间里读到的最令人震惊的军事情报泄露事件之一，”舒默在参议院发言时说。“这种粗心大意就是人们被杀害的原因。我们的敌人就是这样利用我们的。我们的国家安全就是这样陷入危险的。”
伊利诺伊州参议员谭美·达克沃斯，一名退休的陆军国民警卫队中校，在X上发帖:皮特·海格塞斯，历史上最不合格的国防部长，正在通过在群聊中泄露机密的战争计划来证明他的无能...海格塞斯和特朗普正在让我们的国家变得更不安全。"
特拉华州参议员克里斯·库恩斯(Chris Coons)表示，聊天的参与者“犯了罪——即使是意外”，并补充说，“我们不能相信这个危险的政府中的任何人会保护美国人的安全。”
亚利桑那州参议员鲁本·加莱戈称这一事件为“业余时间”
“这些人也在出卖乌克兰，破坏我们在世界各地的联盟，”他补充道。“难怪普京会在谈判桌上让他们尴尬。”
众议院议长·迈克·约翰逊对这一事件轻描淡写，他说:“政府正在处理所发生的事情，很明显，一个疏忽的电话号码进入了那个线程。他们将追查此事，确保它不会再次发生。”
当被问及在第三方应用上进行这样的讨论是否是不负责任的时候，约翰逊回答说，“听着，我不会描述发生了什么。我想管理部门已经承认这是一个错误，他们会加强管理，确保这种事情不会再次发生。我不知道你还能说什么。”
约翰逊补充说，他不认为华尔兹或黑格斯应该受到纪律处分。
Messages with Yemen war plans inadvertently shared with reporter appears 'authentic': Official
The White House said Monday a Signal group chat discussing a U.S. attack on Houthis in Yemen that inadvertently included Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, "appears to be authentic."
Members of the Trump administration coordinated highly sensitive war plans on the unsecure group chat, Goldberg wrote ina report for the publicationon Monday.
White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes shared with ABC News the statement he provided to The Atlantic confirming the veracity of a Signal group chat, which Goldberg said appeared to include Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, among others.
"At this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain. The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our servicemembers or our national security," Hughes said in the statement.
The revelation sparked outrage and disbelief, including from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was dogged by criticism of her use of a private email server while at the State Department in the days before the 2016 presidential election that she lost to Trump.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Clinton posted on X.
Hegseth disputed Goldberg's description of the chat late Monday.
“I've heard how it was characterized. Nobody was texting war plans, and that's all I have to say about that,” Hegseth said shortly after landing for a layover in Hawaii on a trip to Asia.
Hegseth criticized Goldberg as “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, hopes, or suckers and losers.”
“This is the guy that pedals in garbage. This is what he does,” he added.
Asked about the incident, PresidentDonald Trumpsaid he "doesn't know anything about it," and later added that he was hearing about it for the first time from the reporter who asked the question.
Trump later appeared to mock the story, reposting on his Truth Social platform a post by his adviser Elon Musk on X that read, "Best place to hide a dead body is Page 2 of The Atlantic magazine, because no one ever goes there"
Goldberg told ABC News Live anchor Linsey Davis that he initially responded to a request to connect by someone purporting to be Waltz and later, as the user identified as Waltz put together as other a group chat with other high-ranking White House officials to discuss military action in Yemen, that someone was "running a hoax" on him.
"And the main reason I thought that actually, was that it seemed completely absurd to me that the national security leadership of the United States would be meeting, you know, on a messaging app to discuss forthcoming military action, and that then they would also sort of invite the editor of The Atlantic magazine to that conversation," he said.
"And then when the attack seems to be going well, they start sharing congratulatory texts, including emojis, fist emojis, fire emojis, American flag emojis with each other. And so that was that was the that was the day that I realized, 'Oh, this is possibly unbelievably, the leaders of the United States discussing this on on my messaging app," he said.
Asked for his reaction when he realized that the chat was real, Goldberg said, "Honestly, my reaction was, 'I think I've discovered a massive security breach in the United States national security system,' which is to say, it's almost automatically true that if the editor in chief of The Atlantic is being given access to this kind of information, weapon systems and packages and timing and weather in Yemen and all kinds of information about sequencing of particular events, then obviously there's a security breach."
The Pentagon referred questions about Hegseth's participation in the Signal discussion and the sharing of attack plans to the National Security Council and the White House.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce was asked about the Atlantic's report -- including why members of the Cabinet were having a classified conversation over Signal and whether Rubio was concerned about the implications of the incident.
"Well, I have two very short things to say to you: First is that we will not comment on the secretary's deliberative conversations, and secondly, that you should contact the White House," Bruce responded.
Democratic Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement, "The carelessness shown by President Trump's cabinet is stunning and dangerous."
"If true, this story represents one of the most egregious failures of operational security and common sense I have ever seen," Reed said. "Military operations need to be handled with utmost discretion, using approved, secure lines of communication, because American lives are on the line."
Other congressional Democrats expressed incredulity and called for investigations.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the incident "reckless, irresponsible and dangerous."
"These people are incredibly unqualified, irresponsible, and they're jeopardizing America's national security," he said of Trump's administration.
"This whole Trump administration is filled with lackeys and incompetent cronies. I'm not talking about any particular individual, though," he added. "I will note that the secretary of defense who was on that chain has got to be the most unqualified person ever to lead the Pentagon in American history. Think about that."
In a statement later Monday, Jeffries as a little more blunt in his criticism of the secretary of defense.
“It is yet another unprecedented example that our nation is increasingly more dangerous because of the elevation of reckless and mediocre individuals, including the Secretary of Defense,” Jeffries said.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer urged Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Republicans to work with Democrats on a "full investigation" into the incident.
"Mr. President, this is one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence I have read about in a very, very long time," Schumer said on the Senate floor. "This kind of carelessness is how people get killed. It's how our enemies can take advantage of us. It's how our national security falls into danger."
Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel, posted on X: Pete Hegseth, the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in history, is demonstrating his incompetence by literally leaking classified war plans in the group chat...Hegseth and Trump are making our country less safe."
Delaware Sen. Chris Coons said the participants in the chat had "committed a crime -- even if accidentally" and added, "We can't trust anyone in this dangerous administration to keep Americans safe."
Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego called the episode "Amateur hour."
"These are the genuises [sic] that are also selling out Ukraine and destroying our alliances all around the world," he added. "No wonder Putin is embarrassing them at the negotiation table."
House Speaker Mike Johnson downplayed the incident, saying, "The administration is addressing what happened, apparently, an inadvertent phone number made it onto that thread. They're going to track that down and make sure that it doesn't happen again."
Pushed if conducting such a discussion on on a third-party app was irresponsible, Johnson replied, "Look, I'm not going to characterize what happened. I think the administration has acknowledged it was a mistake, and they'll tighten up and make sure it doesn't happen again. I don't know what else you can say."
Johnson added he doesn’t believe Waltz or Hegseth should be disciplined.
