DONALD Trump and Elon Musk have mocked the reports that top national security officials texted war plans for upcoming military strikes to a group chat including a journalist.
The US defence secretary texted war plans for upcoming military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in a secure messaging app that included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic, the magazine reported.
When presented with the messages the National Security Council said the text chain “appears to be authentic”.
The material in the text chain “contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Iran-backed Houthi-rebels in Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing”, editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported.
However, the US President has appeared to make light of the situation as he reposted a screenshot on his social media platform, Truth Social, of his advisor Musk mocking the publication.
In the post, the Tesla and X/Twitter owner, Musk said: “Best place to hide a dead body is page two of The Atlantic Magazine, because no one ever goes there.”
Trump also shared a link to a satire publications page which claimed the US President is a “genius” for leaking the war plans to The Atlantic as no one will “ever see them”.
The National Security Council said in a statement that it was looking into how a journalist’s number was added to the chain in the Signal group chat, which included Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of national intelligence, and secretary of state Marco Rubio.
Goldberg said he received the Signal invitation from Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, who was also in the group chat.
The US has conducted air strikes against the Houthis since the militant group began targeting commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea in November 2023.
Just two hours after Goldberg received the details of the attack on March 15, the US began launching a series of air strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.
It was not immediately clear if the specifics of the military operation were classified, but they often are and at the least are kept secure to protect service members and operational security.
