President Donald Trump brushed off concerns over a group chat between administration officials that inadvertently leaked sensitive information to the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.
In an interview on Newsmax's "Greg Kelly Reports," Trump seemed nonchalant about the fact that a senior adviser on national security fat-thumbed a member of the press into a discussion of then-upcoming military actions.
"Somehow, this guy ended up on the call," he said. "There was no classified information. There was no problem and the attack was a tremendous success."
The Atlantic broke the news of Jeffrey Goldberg's unintentional behind-the-scenes glimpse on Monday, showing how Mike Waltz, Marco Rubio, JD Vance and other Trump administration officials coordinate in a bombshell report. Waltz, who put together the group chat, has spent the intervening day floating different justifications for his actions. Speaking to reporters alongside the president at the White House, Waltz disparaged journalists "making up lies" about the administration.
In an interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham later in the day, Waltz said he took "full responsibility" for the leaks before calling Goldberg a "loser" and suggesting he "deliberately" worked his way into the chat.
Waltz told Ingraham explicitly that the blame did not fall on a staffer. That didn't stop Trump from using that excuse to distance Waltz from criticism, saying that a "lower-level" employee may have added Goldberg to the group. While rumors had swirled about Waltz's future job security, Trump said he was "very comfortable" with his administration's handling of information.
"Somebody that was on the line with permission, somebody that worked with Mike Waltz at a lower level, had Goldberg's number or call through the app, and somehow this guy ended up on the call," Trump said.
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