Amid the fallout from the controversy over officials accidentally sharing military information with a journalist, President Donald Trump is standing by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.
The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg published a piece on Monday claiming he had been accidentally included in a group chat with high-profile Trump administration officials. According to the piece, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, State Secretary Marco Rubio, Waltz, and several others discussed plans for an airstrike on the Houthis in Yemen.
Goldberg claimed Waltz added him to the chat without knowing who he was, which has prompted criticism and calls for Waltz to resign.
However, it appears Trump is not on board with that idea. During an interview with NBC News, Trump said, “Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man.”
These were the first comments Trump has made on the story since Goldberg published his report.
When asked what he was told about how Goldberg came to be added to the Signal chat, Trump said, “It was one of Michael’s people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there.”
Trump said Goldberg’s presence in the chat had “no impact at all” on the military operation.
The president expressed confidence in his team, saying he was not frustrated by the events leading up to The Atlantic's story. The situation, Trump said, was "the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one."
Predictably, Democrats and their allies in the activist media have pounced on the story, using it to smear the Trump administration. Republicans have countered their attacks by pointing out how the president and his team took serious action against the Houthi terrorists who have been attacking U.S. ships traveling through the Suez Canal.
While Joe Biden played possum on Rehoboth beach, President Trump is taking the fight to the Houthis.
— Congressman Greg Steube (@RepGregSteube) March 25, 2025
The Houthis have launched more than 300 attacks on U.S. warships and commercial vessels since 2003. Secretary Hegseth, NSA Waltz, and the entire Trump administration formulated…
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Monday addressed the matter, saying “I think the White House has acknowledged it’s a mistake” and that the administration “will tighten up and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Johnson further argued that Walz and Hegseth do not deserve to be disciplined over the incident.
Asked by The Hill if Waltz, who apparently added The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg to the group chat on Signal, and Hegseth, who according to Goldberg shared the sensitive details ahead of the offensive, should be disciplined, Johnson responded “no, no of course not.”
“The administration, as I understand, I just was with the president in the Oval Office, just now, the administration is addressing what happened,” Johnson said when asked if he was concerned about the report. “Apparently an inadvertent phone number made it onto that thread. They’re gonna track that down and make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a statement told The Hill that “the attacks on the Houthis have been highly successful and effective” and that “President Trump continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team, including National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.”