US President Donald Trump on Tuesday downplayed the texting of sensitive plans for a military strike against Yemen’s Houthis this month to a group chat that included a journalist, calling it “the only glitch in two months” of his administration.
Trump's reaction to the development, which seemed to have caught him by surprise when a reporter first asked him on Monday, comes as Democratic lawmakers heaped criticism on his administration for handling highly sensitive information carelessly.
Trump told local media that the lapse “turned out not to be a serious one,” and expressed his continued support for national security adviser Mike Waltz.
“Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” he said. He also appeared to place blame on an unnamed Waltz aide for Goldberg being added to the chain. “It was one of Michael’s people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there.”
According to a story published online by The Atlantic on Monday, Waltz seemed to have unintentionally included Jeffrey Goldberg, the magazine's editor-in-chief, in a chat that involved eighteen high administration officials talking about strike preparations against Houthi rebels.
The use of the messaging app Signal to discuss a sensitive operation has opened the administration to blistering criticism from Democratic lawmakers who expressed outrage at the White House’s and senior administration officials’ insistence that no classified information was shared.
Senior US administration officials have struggled to explain why the publicly available app was used to discuss such a delicate matter.
Earlier on Tuesday, Waltz said he was not sure how Goldberg ended up on the chat. “This one in particular, I’ve never met, don’t know, never communicated with,” Waltz said.
Later, in an interview with FOX News, the national security adviser admitted the mistake and took responsibility.
“We made a mistake. We’re moving forward,” said Waltz, who added that he took “full responsibility” for the episode.
Before defeating Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, Trump called for the former secretary of state to be charged with a crime for discussing confidential material with her advisers using a private email server she set up.
The matter was investigated, but the FBI ultimately recommended against charges. None were brought.
On Monday, Clinton was among Democrats this week to criticise Trump's administration officials’ use of Signal.
“You have got to be kidding me,” she wrote in a post on X that spotlighted The Atlantic article, making sure to include a rolling eyes emoji.
