On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted a fact-check of an article by Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg published Monday in The Atlantic claiming that he was accidentally texted “war plans” by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth via the Signal messaging app.
“Jeffrey Goldberg is well-known for his sensationalist spin,” Leavitt begins a X.com social media post.
“Here are the facts about his latest story,” Press Sec. Levitt explains:
“1. No “war plans” were discussed.
“2. No classified material was sent to the thread.
“3. The White House Counsel’s Office has provided guidance on a number of different platforms for President Trump’s top officials to communicate as safely and efficiently as possible.”
Goldberg claims in his article that he received “war plans,” most notably in the story’s headline:
“The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans”
Goldberg says he “could not believe that the national-security leadership of the United States would communicate on Signal about imminent war plans.”
“The Signal app is not approved by the government for sharing classified information,” Goldberg writes in one of several references to the mishandling of “classified” documents and information.
But, while repeatedly insinuating that classified information was divulged in the Signal text messages, at one point, Goldberg appears to inadvertently acknowledge that classified information was not shared via Signal, but was restricted to recipients’ “high side” inboxes:
“At 8:05 a.m. on Friday, March 14, ‘Michael Waltz’ texted the group: ‘Team, you should have a statement of conclusions with taskings per the Presidents guidance this morning in your high side inboxes.’ (High side, in government parlance, refers to classified computer and communications systems.) ‘State and DOD, we developed suggested notification lists for regional Allies and partners. Joint Staff is sending this am a more specific sequence of events in the coming days and we will work w DOD to ensure COS, OVP and POTUS are briefed.’”
Press Sec. Leavitt concludes her post by reporting that the White House is investigating the mistake and noting the success of the mission discussed in the text messages:
“As the National Security Council stated, the White House is looking into how Goldberg’s number was inadvertently added to the thread.
“Thanks to the strong and decisive leadership of President Trump, and everyone in the group, the Houthi strikes were successful and effective. Terrorists were killed and that’s what matters most to President Trump.”
