Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic editor-in-chief whom senior Trump administration officials accidentally added to a Signal group chat about plans for military strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, said he has yet to determine who the officials meant to add.
“Who do you think they meant to add instead of you? Have you figured that out?” CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins asked Goldberg on “The Source” on Monday evening.
“I have not,” Goldberg said.
“I’ve been searching ‘JG’ all day on the White House website,” Collins said.
“Maybe Jeff Goldblum,” Goldberg joked.
Goldberg revealed Monday that he was accidentally added to a messaging chain started by Nat. Sec. Advisor Mike Waltz and included senior Trump administration officials to discuss plans to bomb Houthi targets in Yemen two hours before they were executed.
The major national security breach started March 11, per Goldberg, when a user identified as Waltz invited him to a Signal chat. Two days later, he was included in a chat, “Houthi PC small group,” in which more than a dozen of the most prominent members of the administration debated whether to initiate the strikes and the best course of action. Goldberg got an extraordinary look into military strategy and planning in real time, including Vice President JD Vance initially calling the planned attacks “a mistake” and appearing to criticize President Donald Trump. Goldberg later removed himself from the chat.
A National Security Council spokesman said the administration was “reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain,” and attempted to spin the conversation as proof of “deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials.”
According to The Atlantic story, some of the officials on the chat were identified only by initials, but the news outlet determined their identities based on context and matching initials of members of the administration. But it is still not clear whom in the administration, if anyone, has the initials “JG” and was meant to be on the chat.
“I think there is somebody in Washington right now who finally understands why he wasn’t or she wasn’t included in this conversation that they should have been included in,” Goldberg mused.
