The editor of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, wrote he was placed on a text chain on Signal involving the plans of the attack on the Houthis, which included Vice President J.D. Vance, the Director of the CIA John Radcliffe, Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Secretary of the State Department Marco Rubio.
Goldberg disclosed that he was accidently put on the text chain and mentioned some details of the texts, including Vance and Hegseth trashing the Europeans. However, he did not mention the operational details because he thought that it was classified.
The Trump playbook has been to never admit doing anything wrong and to attack those who accuse you of mistakes or other improper conduct. Normally it works, but not this time.
The administration, including Trump, instead of admitting their mistake which could have limited the fallout, attacked Goldberg and claimed that what he had not published were not classified or war plans.
Unfortunately for Trump, the same day, Radcliffe and Gabbard were scheduled to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee. The Republicans on the committee tried their best to change the topic but it did not work. It did not go too well, with Gabbard refusing to admit that the TG on the text was her. They also claimed that there was no classified information. There was an issue of whether they used their personal phones and where they were when they texted. Gabbard was overseas.
In response to Trump’s attacks, Goldberg released the remaining texts, which included Hegseth’s most dangerous message, giving the timeline of the attacks before they occurred.
Radcliffe and Gabbard had to address these texts before the House Intelligence Committee. Again, the Republicans tried their best to change the subject, to no avail. It was reported that Israel is upset about the discussion on Signal because it provided some of the information from a source who now may be compromised.
Trump went from “I do not know anything,” to attacking Goldberg, to saying it’s no big deal, to defending Waltz, who appears to be the one who sent the link to Goldberg, to saying Waltz made a mistake, to again saying it is a fraud and a witch-hunt.
No one in the Trump administration has been able to give a satisfactory answer to how Goldberg ended up on the text chat and why no one realized that he was part of the text chat. Waltz claimed he was sending a request to an unnamed third person and somehow Goldberg got sucked in. In contrast, Goldberg’s explanation that Waltz sent him a message request on Signal makes sense. Why would Waltz be sending a message request to Goldberg? Could there be a history of Waltz using Goldberg to leak information?
Attorney General Pam Bondi, who believes that the Attorney’s General job is to be the president’s lawyer and not the people’s lawyer, said that there will not be any investigation. She thought she was clever by trying to defect by mentioning that Hunter Biden had access to classified information left by President Biden. That just reminded people of Trump’s charges involving his mishandling confidential information as well as talking to people about it.
It is naive to believe that this is the only time that they have been careless in communication. As Bloomberg Commentator Rick Davis put it, if you see one roach, there are a thousand you do not see. Goldberg may have disclosed his access to this conversation to the American people so they are aware of the danger. The Russians, Chinese, Iranians, and others who probably have access to other conversations involving the same individuals would not disclose their having access.
This was not the only example which showed that this group is not competent. A reporter from Der Spiegel easily found online personal email addresses, some passwords, and phone numbers of Hegseth, Waltz, and Gabbard.
Also, Waltz’s Venmo information, including his friends list of 328, was public until last week. Hegseth had his wife at meetings where sensitive information was discussed.
Right now, Trump is standing by his team. We shall see how long that lasts. This shows what happens when the most important requirement for the position is loyalty to Trump. You end up with a group who are in over their heads, which is not only embarrassing for the country but dangerous to the world’s security. Trump and his allies may try to minimize the damage, but the American people and our allies are not fooled.
Warren S. Hecht is a local attorney. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.