‘Anti-Trump Sensationalist’: White House Press Secretary Blasts Journalist Added To War Plans Group Chat

Last Updated:March 26, 2025, 23:57 IST

Karoline Leavitt went on to ask another reporter if they trusted Defence Secretary Hegseth or the journalist Jeffrey Goldberg.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, US. (IMAGE: REUTERS)

The White House said Wednesday that US President Donald Trump still has confidence in his top national security officials when asked if any would be fired over a leaked chat about Yemen air strikes.

“What I can say definitively is what I just spoke to the president about, and he continues to have confidence in his national security team," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a briefing.

“I would characterize this messaging thread as a policy discussion, a sensitive policy discussion amongst high level cabinet officials and senior staff," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a briefing Wednesday.

Asked to square how classified information wasn’t shared, considering launch times and weapon systems were included, Leavitt cited a social media post by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that said the information wasn’t classified.

She also assailed The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg — mistakenly added to the thread by the national security adviser — as an “anti-Trump sensationalist reporter."

“Do you trust the secretary of defense — who was nominated for this role, voted by the United States Senate into this role, who has served in combat, honorably served our nation in uniform — or do you trust Jeffrey Goldberg?" she asked.

Also on X, White House communications director Steven Cheung dismissed as “faux outrage" the concern over the inclusion of a journalist in a war-planning chat.

Hegseth told reporters on Monday that no one had texted war plans. Goldberg, appearing on CNN on Monday, called those comments “a lie."

It remained unclear why the officials chose to chat via Signal rather than the secure government channels typically used for sensitive discussions.

Signal has a “stellar reputation and is widely used and trusted in the security community," said Rocky Cole, whose cybersecurity firm iVerify helps protect smartphone users from hackers.

“The risk of discussing highly sensitive national security information on Signal isn’t so much that Signal itself is insecure," Cole added. “It’s the fact that nation-states threat actors have a demonstrated ability to remotely compromise the entire mobile phone itself. If the phone itself isn’t secure, all the Signal messages on that device can be read."

Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)

News world ‘Anti-Trump Sensationalist’: White House Press Secretary Blasts Journalist Added To War Plans Group Chat