A journalist claims he was accidentally added to a group text chat by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth that featured discussions about the bombing of Yemen in a Houthi attack.
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Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, claimed he was added to Hegseth’s group chat on the Signal app. Through the text exchange, Hegseth discussed Yemen bombing plans, including information about the weapons, the targets, and the timing of the attacks.
Goldberg also alleged that on Mar. 11, he received a connection request on Signal from a user named “Mike Waltz,” the White House national security adviser. Two days later, he was added to a group chat called “Houthi PC small group,” which he believes may have stood for “principals committee.”
Along with Waltz and Hegseth, others in the group chat were identified as Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. On March 14, Hegseth and the other officials discussed the timing of the bombing in the group chat.
Vice President JD Vance Showed Some Concerns During the Text Exchange With Pete Hegseth, Other Trump Administration Members
In the group text, Vice President JD Vance appeared not 100% on board with taking action against the Houthis, which would potentially benefit Europe. The bombing was amid the president’s push to make European allies take defensive action for their own national security.
“I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now,” Vance wrote, per Goldberg. “There’s a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices. I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself. But there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc.”
Per the correspondents, Pete Hegseth responded to JD Vance’s text. “VP: I understand your concerns,” he wrote. “And fully support you raising w/POTUS. Important considerations, most of which are tough to know how they play out (economy, Ukraine peace, Gaza, etc). I think messaging is going to be tough no matter what — nobody knows who the Houthis are — which is why we would need to stay focused on: 1) Biden failed & 2) Iran funded.”
Vance replied, “If you think we should do it lets go. I just hate bailing Europe out again.”
Hegseth fully shared Vance’s “loathing of European free-loading,” calling it “pathetic.” However, he believed Waltz was correct about the situation. He also stated that the US is the “only ones on the planet” who can carry out the bombings.
“Question is timing,” Hegseth explained. “I feel like now is as good a time as any, given POTUS directive to reopen shipping lanes. I think we should go; but POTUS still retains 24 hours of decision space.”
The Journalist Didn’t Publish Some Messages Due to Security
The following day, Pete Hegseth shared additional messages. Goldberg stated that he would not publish those because they contained information that “could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East, Central Command’s area of responsibility.”
National Security Council (NSC) confirmed that the text message exchange appeared “authentic.”
“At this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain,” a National Security Council spokesman told CBS News. “The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our service members or our national security.”
The bombing occurred on Mar. 15. A total of 53 people (including two children) were killed in the strike. An additional 98 people were wounded.
President Trump himself told reporters he knew nothing about the text message exchange. “I don’t know anything about it,” he claimed when asked about the situation. “You’re telling me about it for the first time.”
He also called The Atlantic “not much of a magazine.”