President Donald Trump said Wednesday that there were no detailed war plans included in the Signal chat after The Atlantic claimed that messages between administration officials contained “attack plans.”
The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg and Shane Harris published transcripts of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth outlining the military’s detailed plans to attack the Houthis in Yemen, followed by Vice President JD Vance stating he would “say a prayer for victory.” Trump told Daily Caller editorial director Vince Coglianese that the inadvertent leak of the plans to Goldberg had no impact on the successful attack.
“The update we got this morning is yesterday, Jeffrey Goldberg was insisting that there were secret war plans that were discussed. ‘They’re war plans,’ he insisted. And then a short while ago this morning, The Atlantic published some of these texts that they claim were war plans and I noticed that in them, they refer to it, Secretary Hegseth is referring to known targets, but he doesn’t say what the known targets are. He just generically refers to them. Those don’t sounds like detailed war plans,” Coglianese said.
“No. There weren’t details and there was nothing in there that was compromised,” Trump replied. “And it had no impact on the attack which was very successful. It was a very, very successful attack and it was an attack that [former President Joe] Biden should’ve done three years ago and he didn’t do it. It would’ve been a lot easier three years ago. But we’re having very good luck on the attack. It’s an attack that has continued.”
The president further said his administration will “get to the bottom” of how Goldberg got added to the chat.
WATCH:
Hegseth listed the type of weaponry, the timing of the planned attack and the targets, who were referred to in the messages as “Target Terrorist,” while National Security adviser Mike Waltz shared real-time intelligence about conditions of the attack site, The Atlantic reported.
“1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package),” Hegseth wrote in the chat, referring to the attack. “1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME) — also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s).”
A screenshot of the chat featured a message from Vance expressing hesitation around carrying out the attack, stating it could contradict Trump’s messaging to Europe, according to The Atlantic. In response to Vance, the defense secretary responded that the attack will “restore freedom of navigation” and “reestablish deterrence” that had been “cratered” by former President Joe Biden.
Trump and his intelligence officials repeatedly assured the public there was no classified information shared in the chat, while Hegseth said Tuesday that the officials did not discuss war plans.
Vance, Waltz and Hegseth were in the chat with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director John Ratcliffe. While Gabbard and Ratcliffe appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday, the CIA director stated that using Signal for internal discussions is “permissible” for government officials.
The president further defended Waltz, who inadvertently added Goldberg to the chat, saying that he had “learned a lesson” and is a “good man.” Waltz told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham Tuesday night that he did not have Goldberg’s number and is unsure how The Atlantic editor was added.
Goldberg said in a Monday piece that he left the chat after the attacks had been carried out as planned.
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