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President Donald Trump loves to troll the media, the Left, the Never Trumpers and other countries. It’s one of the many things we Trumpers really enjoy. Yesterday, Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic magazine, released an article titled “The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans”. If it’s true that Trump’s closest advisors leaked war plans, that horrendously stupid and they should be immediately fired and shunned forever. BUT. Let’s slow our roll.
We haven’t seen the anointed elite this gleeful since Butler, Pennsylvania when Trump went down. AND. I am afraid that just like in Butler, when Trump popped back up, the anointed elite are going to have a big old case of the sads.
You should sit this one out, like your deployment to Iraq. https://t.co/kObE9Dmbf6
— Joey Jones (@Johnny_Joey) March 24, 2025
The story of leaked war plans to a critic of the Administration is best told by the leakee, Goldberg:
The world found out shortly before 2 p.m. eastern time on March 15 that the United States was bombing Houthi targets across Yemen.
I, however, knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming. The reason I knew this is that Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, had texted me the war plan at 11:44 a.m. The plan included precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing.
This is going to require some explaining.
If that’s what happened, damn skippy it requires some explaining. Several weeks before the events that occurred, Goldberg was invited to connect with National Security Advisor and Green Beret Michael Waltz. That’s how Greenberg thinks he accidently got added to the chain. From PBS:
Amna Nawaz:
So, you’re added to this group chat. You see some 18 or so other people on it. Among them appear to be senior national security and Cabinet officials like Marco Rubio, J.D. Vance, Pete Hegseth, John Ratcliffe, Tulsi Gabbard, Stephen Miller, Steve Witkoff, Michael Waltz.
How did you end up on this chat? And when do you realize it looks like you were added by mistake?
Jeffrey Goldberg:
I was invited a couple of weeks ago to connect with Michael Waltz, the national security adviser. That didn’t strike me as particularly strange, given my job and his job.
A little while later, I’m added to a group chat with the people you just named. That seemed strange. But I kind of just ignored it a little bit. And then it really became a very bizarre situation on Saturday the 15th of March, when I was shared on a text in this group from somebody purporting to be Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense.
And this text contained operational military information, including the time that bombs were supposed to start dropping on Yemen. And this was two hours before that time. So I simply waited and stared at my phone.
And, sure enough, the attack, the American attack on Yemen began to be felt at about 1:30 Eastern or so, 1:50 Eastern. And that’s when I realized that the chain was real. Until that point, I really had a deep suspicion that I was being spoofed or hoaxed or being led astray on a disinformation campaign, the rationale for which I can’t figure out.
But this all seemed so improbable that I simply assumed that it couldn’t be real.
This all seems so incompetent and ignorant. The Left is really enjoying it. Check out Goldberg in this clip with ABC. He seems aroused by all of the leaked war plan conversations:
Yup, Goldberg named off every top cabinet official involved in National Security. If this is remotely true, this is the collapse of the Trump Administration.
Politico is cheering for Michael Waltz to go:
The stunning revelation that top administration officials accidentally included a reporter in a group chat discussing war plans triggered furious discussion inside the White House that national security adviser Mike Waltz may need to be forced out.
Nothing is decided yet, and White House officials cautioned that President Donald Trump would ultimately make the decision over the next day or two as he watches coverage of the embarrassing episode.
David French of the New York Times was a JAG lawyer, so he knows all about military planning and secrets (major eye roll here) and he wants SecDef Pete Hegseth to get gone:
I don’t know how Pete Hegseth can look service members in the eye. He’s just blown his credibility as a military leader.
On Monday, The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg published one of the most extraordinary stories I’ve ever read. President Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Waltz, apparently inadvertently invited Goldberg to join a Signal group chat (Signal is an encrypted messaging app) that seemed to include several senior Trump officials, including Stephen Miller, JD Vance, Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth.
A National Security Council spokesman told The Atlantic that the chat “appears to be authentic.”
No one apparently noticed Goldberg’s presence, and he had a front-row seat as they debated Trump’s decision to attack the Houthi rebels, an Iran-backed militia that had been firing on civilian shipping in the Red Sea.
snip–
This would be a stunning breach of security. I’m a former Army JAG officer (an Army lawyer). I’ve helped investigate numerous allegations of classified information spillages, and I’ve never even heard of anything this egregious — a secretary of defense intentionally using a civilian messaging app to share sensitive war plans without even apparently noticing a journalist was in the chat.
There is not an officer alive whose career would survive a security breach like that. It would normally result in instant consequences (relief from command, for example) followed by a comprehensive investigation and, potentially, criminal charges.
Federal law makes it a crime when a person — through gross negligence — removes information “relating to the national defense” from “its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted or destroyed.”
David French is a barbarous toad-spotted canker-blossom, who hates everyday type Republicans. Effing snob. Buzz off.
I have never been a lawyer or a soldier, but I am familiar with SIPRNet. So, Signal is encrypted, but why use that app when you have classified means of communication. It really kept bothering me.
What in the burnt cornbread Hell are these yahoos doing on a freaking app? So, naturally, I went to X, which is where all the news is nowadays…and the experts. I saw this from an honest to goodness retired military officer:
I also envision Trump, JD and Hegseth laughing their a$$es off as they set up Goldberg. pic.twitter.com/SCytnKmMqv
— Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius) March 24, 2025
Catturd spent a long time being green too:
Watching you breathlessly trying to gaslight this story into the biggest thing since the attack on Pearl Harbor is hysterical. Nobody gives AF.
— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) March 25, 2025
Is Trump playing 4D chess? Is everyone on the National Security side the worst ever? Slow your roll. I think they chose Jeffrey Goldberg just to watch him get aroused on PBS.
Featured Image: Grok/X/Public Domain
Wfjag says: Two thoughts:
First, why use a Signal app, even if encrypted, instead of SIPERNet? Could it be that after having “China Joe”’s friends running things and highly placed Iranian sympathizers in top DOD positions that the Trump administration has concluded that China and/or Iran has compromised SIPERNet? In WWII it should be recalled that we were reading German and Japanese secret communications, which were important factors in their defeat.
Second, I don’t recall the Dems sanctioning Hillary Clinton for using her unsecured “Home Brew” server, which despite the lack of media outrage, was apparently compromised. She was SEC State and later their nominee for President.
A reader says: Oh yes, “But her emails. Of course someone has to get that in there! *eye roll*
It’s been confirmed the chat happened, so there you go. The biggest issue is them using Signal. Signal isn’t super secure, particularly for sensitive national security information like the literal identity of a CIA agent. Need I remind you that there are literal rooms that can be set up to do this. The vice president has one in his residence. They’re called SCIFs. Plus there are secure channels to discuss this info. And they’re not Signal. This puts our military personal in danger. I’d think too author would care about that considering she loves to remind readers that her son is in the military…
There is also the question of why anyone had a reporter in their Signal contacts. Have you thought about that, perhaps? Not a good look there either.
Pete Hegseth is reportedly an alcoholic. Senators were warned about how bad his confirmation could be. And nevertheless, they persisted. This isn’t just on him, it’s also on them. I also seem to recall writers here celebrating his confirmation. Care to comment on that? Maybe putting someone who has little to no military leadership experience, was a second tier TV host and a reported alcoholic whose decision making abilities may not be the best in charge of our military wasn’t the best look?
Defending them or minimizing this isn’t a good look either. Thank goodness the reporter has the sense not to spill all the beans publicly, though I’m sure he could give what he has, including all his screenshots, to the intelligence committee. This isn’t over yet, not by a long shot.
Scott says: Definitely questions need to be answered. Besides the ones you’ve brought up, I’ll add ” why didn’t report remove himself from the chat once he realized that he didn’t belong there? “. Seems that would have been the right / honest thing to do, if your intent wasn’t just to get a ” gotcha” story scoop…
Liz says: I agree with some of this. But never believe the first battlefield reports.
The story is certainly going to change as more is revealed.
I’ve read now that the app was cleared for use by legal in exactly the way they used it.
If that is true, it would seem the fault is less on the sender than the legal person/people who approved it.
Stephen C says: It’s sounds off key to me. Why 18 Trump people and Goldberg? Why when asked did Trump say he did not know, but he knows everything? Why use freeware Signal to discuss bombing et merda?
Que says: This take. Oy.
The conclusion: “I think they chose Jeffrey Goldberg just to watch him get aroused on PBS.” Are you serious? Big EWWWW. Not to mention, childish and stupid, if true.
Sources? “So, naturally, I went to X, which is where all the news is nowadays…and the experts.” X is the last place I would go for accurate information. Do you know how many Russian and Chinese bots infiltrate X? Or are you just looking for people to confirm your pro-Trump biases?
And look, here we see Cynical Publius, “an honest to goodness retired military officer” who claims that “Goldberg was specifically and deliberately included so that he would leak what he saw to the public. The idea was to let Europe know just how unhappy American leadership is” Oh please. Like members of the administration can’t sit down with our European allies? I thought JD Vance allegedly scorched the EU in a speech a few weeks ago.
As for the “honest to goodness retired military officer” — you know who else is a retired military officer? Doug Macgregor, a Putin apologist and Tucker Carlson’s go-to bud for anything concerning Ukraine — about which Macgregor has been consistently mistaken since the start of the war in 2022.
And Catturd? Please. Snark doesn’t correlate with serious assessment of a serious situation.
“Is Trump playing 4D chess?” Just. Stop. Your TDS is showing — TDS, as in “Trumper Denial Syndrome,” in which hardcore Trumpers cannot possibly admit that their hero made a mistake in choosing sycophants and TV stars for positions that require experience and expertise.
Nicki says: Welp… as a former senior intelligence officer in the first Trump administration (and previous ones as well), this is quite possibly the dumbest, least researched, most ignorant, and completely lacking in critical thinking blog post I’ve read since I left government service.
And I’ve read some really stupid shit since then.
This post is an insult not just to national security but to analytical and critical thinking. Congratulations, Toni. You’ve outdone yourself.
Liz says: Do you have any theories on what happened here?
Nicki says: My theory? Occam’s razor. Sloppiness and subsequent spin that made it worse.
In my current job, I do have several journalists in my Signal contacts. I don’t see why anyone in the administration wouldn’t. Signal is a better, faster way to communicate, especially if your mobile device is an Android. And if a reporter has a quick question, they would probably use Signal to ask it. The contact probably was there from Waltz’s days on the Hill. And also the last names begin with G – Gabbard and Goldberg – so he may have fat-fingered the additions to the group chat.
But while Signal has end-to-end encryption, it is NOT secure. WhatsApp has end-to-end encryption too, and I get added by random scammer scum on that all the time. You do NOT discuss classified on that app. EVER.
My theory? That’s exactly what they did. It’s convenient. And while I’m told that people do discuss PC and DC scheduling on it, which is not classified, agenda and other topics discussed there should never be discussed.
Witkoff was in MOSCOW at the time, waiting on his meeting with Putin. He was literally on Russian WiFi. The DNI and Ratcliffe should have known that. If they didn’t, they don’t read their briefings. If they did and said nothing anyway, they need to lose their jobs.
My assessment is sloppiness. Period. And Waltz’s claim last night on Fox that the eeeeeevil Goldberg somehow hacked his way into the Signal group shows he’s a liar trying to cover up his mistake. That’s not how signal works.
Liz says: Thanks for the response.
I do remember Captain Crozier was fired for what seems relatively trivial compared to this.
Hate_me says: From what little I’ve seen of the actual messages exchanged, this seems like much less an issue than it’s being made out to be and, aside from the inclusion of a reporter in the group, not that out of the ordinary for decision-making in real time. Yes, sensitive subject – but no, not classified material or information.
Most line soldiers don’t have SIPR access, yet they are involved in the planning and carrying out of sensitive strikes quite often. Even when one has a clearance, they don’t always have convenient access to a secure facility. Apps like Signal are often used for coordinating when everyone cannot gather together in a secure location – this is the future of warfare and military/civil servants are using it often. Classification regulations still need to be observed; they don’t appear to have been violated in this case, but this presents a learning opportunity. Hopefully, we’ll start teaching our warfighters some basic encryption again.
The only real question is why Goldberg was included – need to know always applies. Hopefully, it was deliberate and not an oversight.
Nicki says: Much less of an issue?
Literally a timeline for attack! Verbatim.
1345: “trigger-based” F-18 first strike…
1410: More F-18 LAUNCH
1415: Strike Drones on Target
Spare me the excuses!
Tactical intel of details of an upcoming op is literally prima facie CLASSIFIED. This is what the Russians almost certainly had access to, especially since Witkoff was in Moscow at the time!
Hate_me says: Classification is a formal process. It can easily be argued that the information involved in the discussion posed a risk to national security if made publicly available, but this discussion seems to have occurred long before any such process would have been completed, and the limited window of viability suggests the pertinent information would be publicly available within a matter of hours, anyway. You could argue that those writing these posts are the “authors” of the material and had a duty to appropriately label each post – but that’s a stretch. The official order issued to the wing no doubt underwent that process and was properly classified.
While Signal isn’t as secure as is SIPRNet, its end-to-end encryption means it isn’t exactly making information public – even over Russian WiFi (especially given that he was likely on a government-issued device).
The exception is including a journalist among the recipients; that could have been a fat-fingered mistake, or it may have been an intentional leak.
[…] much back and forth about what actually constitutes a “war plan” and “classified information” in the wake of the big fat fail on the part of NSA Mike Waltz in […]
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