President Donald Trump suggested that a “very innocent staffer” may have been the source of the recent Signal group chat, which has rocked the administration this week.
The Atlantic released a report on Wednesday in which editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg included messages in the chat from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the timeline for strikes planned against Houthi targets. The president predicted an answer to who added Goldberg to the group chat could be found on Wednesday and suggested that Goldberg may have gotten into the chat “with a staffer” by accident.
“Maybe Goldberg found a way, maybe there’s a staffer, maybe there’s a very innocent staffer, but I think we’ll get to the bottom of it very quickly, and it’s really not a big deal,” Trump said on The VINCE Show.
Trump also said that it is “bizarre” how a “sleezebag” like Goldberg got added to the chat to begin with, adding that it is “too bad” his magazine got a boost in attention through this leak. Additionally, he argued the leak had no effect on the administration’s attack on Houthi targets.
Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, has suggested that Goldberg found a way to “deliberately” enter this Signal chat. He also said he “never met” Goldberg and that he “wouldn’t know him if I bumped into him,” though Goldberg has said he met Waltz a few years ago at two events.
TRUMP, CHAOS, COMPETENCE, AND A CONTROVERSIAL SIGNAL GROUP CHAT
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has also rebuked the Atlantic’s piece, calling it “another hoax written by a Trump-hater who is well-known for his sensationalist spin.”
The Atlantic has conceded: these were NOT “war plans.”
This entire story was another hoax written by a Trump-hater who is well-known for his sensationalist spin. pic.twitter.com/atGrDd2ymr
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) March 26, 2025
During his new interview, Trump also detailed his administration’s decision to declassify the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, saying that people will see for themselves how the 2020 election was “very corrupt” while reiterating his claim that he won the election against then-Presidential candidate Joe Biden.