A journalist claims to have been privy to a top secret discussion among Trump’s national security team
US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz — or another high-ranking official — may have been responsible for an inadvertent leak about US airstrikes in Yemen, insiders have told Politico.
On Monday, The Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg broke a story detailing purported conversations among top members of President Donald Trump’s administration regarding military strategies against Houthi rebels.
In the article, Goldberg claims having gained access to a group chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal from a user identified as “Mike Waltz.” The “Houthi PC small group” chat reportedly included Vice President J.D. Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and other cabinet members.
“Everyone in the White House can agree on one thing: Mike Waltz is a f***ing idiot,” one anonymous source quoted by Politico stated.
“Half of them [are] saying he’s never going to survive or shouldn’t survive,” another official told the outlet. “It was reckless not to check who was on the thread. It was reckless to be having that conversation on Signal. You can’t have recklessness as the national security adviser.”
Other sources indicated the fallout would largely depend on Trump’s reaction to the incident and that repercussions were possible for Vance or Hegseth over their purported remarks in the group chat. Politico concluded that “nothing is decided yet.”
Hegseth has downplayed the leak, branding Goldberg “a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes.” The defense secretary has denied sending Yemen war plans to Goldberg, rejecting claims made in the article.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt relayed Trump’s favorable view of the airstrikes against the Houthis, calling them “highly successful and effective,” and emphasized the president’s “utmost confidence in his national security team,” including Waltz.
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