Reports that Trump administration officials inadvertently included The Atlantic editor-in-chief in a group chat discussing highly-sensitive war plans has provoked little consternation among Republicans, who are largely characterizing the leak of apparent classified information as a minor slip-up.
On Monday, The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg wrote that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz added him to a Signal group chat that included Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and other high-clearance personnel. In the chat, the participants discussed plans to strike Houthi targets in Yemen, part of the U.S.'s longstanding involvement in a bloody civil war that has caused hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths. Hegseth provided operational details of the strikes two hours before American bombers delivered the payload.
“A mistake was made. It happens,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told reporters, later reassuring them that it’s “not keeping the American people up at night" and won't "lead to the apocalypse." Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., suggested that "you got to know who you're sending your text to" but also said that "it's a 24-hour news cycle... I've got a lot of confidence in Mike. This doesn't undermine my belief that he's a solid pick for the role."
Politico had earlier reported that Waltz's position was in jeopardy, but White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tried to tamp down the rumors, saying that Trump still has “the utmost confidence in his national security team.”
Meanwhile, Hegseth has suggested that the story is fake, despite the White House confirming it, calling Goldberg a “deceitful and highly-discredited so-called journalist." His sentiment that the media was to blame was echoed by some Republicans on Capitol Hill, including Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who said that “this is what the leftist media is reduced to ... now we’re griping about who’s on a text message and who’s not. I mean, come on.”
A few Republicans, like Rep. Don Bacon, R-Ne., expressed something more than a shrug. “I will guarantee you, 99.99% with confidence, Russia and China are monitoring those two phones,” he told CNN's Manu Raju. "So I just think it’s a security violation, and there’s no doubt that Russia and China saw this stuff within hours of the actual attacks on Yemen or the Houthis.”
Senate Armed Services Committee chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., proposed seeking briefings and holding hearings over the security lapse, which he called a "concern." But the party's response in general is a study in contrasts from Democrats and opinion columnists, who have called the leak an egregious blunder and part of a pattern that could put American national security at risk.
“There is not an officer alive whose career would survive a security breach like that,” wrote New York Times columnist David French. “Nothing destroys a leader’s credibility with soldiers more thoroughly than hypocrisy or double standards … If [Hegseth] had any honor at all, he would resign.”
The GOP response also contrasts with their enthusiastic support for the Pentagon's announcement just days before the group chat fiasco that they would hunt down employees who leaked information to the press, including reports that Elon Musk was attending war planning meetings.
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