President Donald Trump is defending National Security Advisor Mike Waltz after the latter reportedly mistakenly granted The Atlantic’s Editor in Chief access to sensitive military information.
Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg recently claimed he was added to a Signal chat with top Trump administration officials where they discussed the US’ recent strikes on Houthi targets.
The National Security Council subsequently reportedly confirmed Goldberg had access to the Signal chat.
Messages sent in a chat including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, and National Security Advisor Waltz among others, shared plans on striking the Houthis and criticized Europe’s scant military action in proportion with their large interests in the region.
Democrat lawmakers criticized the Trump administration for allegedly discussing classified information via unsecured channels.
President Trump reportedly defended Waltz, stating “Michael Waltz has learned a lesson and is a good man."
Colorado Senator Mike Bennet (D) condemned the situation as “entirely unacceptable.”
Waltz denied knowing Goldberg and supported efforts into uncovering “how the heck” the latter was included into the Signal chat.
“We are looking into and reviewing how the heck he got into this room,” said Waltz. “This journalist, Mr. President, wants the world talking about more hoaxes and this kind of nonsense rather than the freedom that you are enabling.”
Waltz also lauded Trump’s foreign policy strategy towards the Houthis.
“President Trump took decisive action with his national security team, took out the head missileer... knocked out communications sites... thank God for American leadership again," continued Waltz.
The US has recently ramped up strikes against the Houthis, an Iran-backed Yemeni terror group that has been targeting US, Israeli, and allies’ ships since Hamas’ October 7th, 2023 attacks.
Houthi forces have executed daily drone and missile attacks against US military and commercial ships and have recently increasingly directly attacked Israel’s civilian population.
