Donald Trump defends national security adviser's 'glitch' after Atlantic editor added to war group chat
By Brad Ryan in Washington DC
Topic:Defence and National Security
11m ago11 minutes agoTue 25 Mar 2025 at 6:49pm
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US President Donald Trump has defended the top adviser who inadvertently looped a magazine editor into a war group chat, saying he'd "learned a lesson" from the "glitch".
Michael Waltz, who leads the White House's National Security Council, added the journalist to a group on the messaging app Signal, where officials discussed a planned military operation in Yemen earlier this month.
The embarrassing error has triggered widespread concern in Washington about the sharing of confidential information, and particularly raised red flags about the use of a commercial app to share potentially classified material.
But Mr Trump told NBC News: "Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he's a good man."
He described the error as "the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one", as it had "no impact at all" on the "perfectly successful" military operation.
Asked how the editor was added to the chat, Mr Trump said: "It was one of Michael's people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there."
Senators have meanwhile used a congressional committee hearing to question two of the officials named as part of the group chat.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe both insisted before the Senate Intelligence Committee that no classified information was shared.
Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe seated at a bench with binders of papers in front of them.
Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe were questioned at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. (Reuters: Kevin Lamarque)
Mr Ratcliffe said the Signal app had been used permissibly and legally, "at least to my understanding", but senators appeared frustrated as he repeatedly answered "I don't recall" when asked about what was discussed.
"It's hard for me to believe that targets and timing and weapons would not have been classified," said independent senator Angus King, who caucuses with the Democratic Party.
Democratic Senator Mark Warner, the committee's vice-chairman, said the group chat incident was just the latest in a string of dangerous White House decisions, which ranged from cutting foreign aid to security programs, to firing staff overseeing America's nuclear weapons stockpile.
Such decisions were damaging trust with allies such as the Five Eyes nations, he said. The Fives Eyes is comprised of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK and the US.
"Things like the Five Eyes are based on trust built on decades, but so often that trust is now breaking literally overnight," Senator Warner said.
Mark Warner speaks into a microphone at a wooden bench.
Mike Warner warned trust from allies like the Five Eyes was at risk. (Reuters: Kevin Lamarque)
The White House has responded to the story with a public relations offensive, attacking the editor who was included in the chat and describing the coverage as a "coordinated effort to distract" from Mr Trump's successes.
"Jeffrey Goldberg is well-known for his sensationalist spin," Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt posted online, adding that "no war plans were discussed".
Her comments echoed those made earlier by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who labelled Goldberg a "deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist".
Goldberg has defended the report.
"He [Hegseth] was texting attack plans — when targets were going to be targeted; how they were going to be targeted; who was at the targets; when the next sequence of attacks was happening," he told CNN.
Posted11m ago11 minutes agoTue 25 Mar 2025 at 6:49pm
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