The president of the United States, Donald Trump, seems to have decided that it is not too serious infraction. In statements to the NBC chain, the Republican has expressed himself benevolent towards the creator of the chat, from which he says that “he has learned the lesson.” His words seem to indicate that, at least for the moment, he will not roll heads due to the most serious, and more absurd security filtration, in decades in the United States.
“Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and is a good man,” said the US president in the interview. He closed ranks around the National Security Minister and the rest of the participants in the Signal application group: the top responsible for the foreign policy of the United States, including vice president JD Vance, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and the director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, among others.
White House spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, wrote on the social network X that in the conversation in Signal in Jeffrey Goldberg, “no war plans were discussed” and “no classified material was sent.” And he lashed out at the journalist, a regular white of the criticisms of the US administration, which he accused of “being known for his sensationalism.”
Goldberg published an article in his magazine in which he explained how he had ended up having access to that delicate conversation: Waltz had sent him an invitation to include it as contact in Signal first, and then included him in the group, created to deal with the bombing against the Hutí rebel guerrillas in Yemen, which ended up taking place on March 15. He first thought it was a joke or scam, but as he was receiving messages, which included very precise details about the objectives and types of weapons that were going to be used, he convinced himself that the thread was authentic.
Criticism of European partners
In that conversation, participants such as Vance or Hegseth strongly criticized European partners, who accused of taking free of US military power. Both exchanged opinions about the need or not to bombard the hutis, which attack the merchant ships that cross the Red Sea and prevent freedom of navigation.
Vance considered that European partners would benefit much more from the attack against the hutis than the Americans themselves, since a much greater proportion of their trade uses the Red Sea route (40% against 3% American, according to the figures handled by the vice president in the conversation). The existence of the group has also generated numerous criticisms about the danger of using commercial messaging applications, likely to be intercepted by intelligence services of adversary countries.
“The Office of the White House Legal Advisor has provided guidance on various platforms so that President Trump’s officials communicate in the safest and efficient way possible,” said spokeswoman Leavitt in her message in X.
The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegesh, one of the 18 participants in the conversation, denied Goldberg’s story on Monday night, and said no secret information was leaked. But the National Security Council had already recognized by then that the journalist’s phone number was, effectively, included in the group.
“As the National Security Council declared, the White House investigates how Goldberg’s number was inadvertently added,” said the presidential office spokeswoman. Leavitt also tries to defend the content of the conversation. “Thanks to the firm and determined leadership of President Trump and all the members of the group, the attacks against the hutis were successful and were effective.”
