President Trump said on Tuesday that he is “very comfortable” regarding the explanation and resolution of the issue of how the editor of The Atlantic got onto a group texting chain with White House national security team members.
In a wide-ranging interview with Newsmax, Trump told host Greg Kelly that Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of the magazine, was invited to be a part of the texting group that discussed attacking Houthi terrorists in Yemen.
“And what it was, we believe, is somebody that was on the line with permission; somebody that was with Mike Waltz — worked for Mike Waltz at a lower level — had, I guess, Goldberg's number or called through the app, and somehow this guy ended up on the call. Now, it wasn't classified, as I understand it. There was no classified information. There was no problem, and the attack was a tremendous success. I can only go by what I was told; I wasn't involved in it. But I was told by — and the other people weren't involved at all. But I feel very comfortable actually,” Trump said.
When asked if regular hard channels should be used in the future rather than using Signal, the texting app involved in this issue, Trump said that he likes hard lines, “but the best way is to be in the situation room, or some other room, where you're all together, where you don't have — any time you have a line, whether it's air or whether it's hard, there's always a risk that people are listening.”
Trump added that he has disdain for Goldberg, saying that he’s “bad news.”
“It's The Atlantic. It's failing. …They made up all sorts of stories about me. Goldberg's a loser; his magazine's a big loser,” Trump said.
Kelly also spoke to Trump about the attempted assassinations on him in Butler, Pennsylvania and in West Palm Beach, among other topics.
On Wednesday, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell posted to X that “It’s no surprise hoax-peddlers at the Atlantic have already abandoned their ‘war plans’ claim. These additional Signal chat messages confirm there were no classified materials or war plans shared. The Secretary was merely updating the group on a plan that was underway & had already been briefed through official channels. The American people see through the Atlantic’s pathetic attempts to distract from President Trump’s national security agenda.”
STATEMENT:
— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellUSA) March 26, 2025
It’s no surprise hoax-peddlers at the Atlantic have already abandoned their “war plans” claim.
These additional Signal chat messages confirm there were no classified materials or war plans shared. The Secretary was merely updating the group on a plan that was… pic.twitter.com/FDGgUwbLD5