Donald Trump shrugs off Yemen ‘war plan’ chat leak as ‘glitch’, says NSA Waltz learned ‘a lesson’ – The Times of India

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday downplayed a journalist’s accidental inclusion in a group chat discussing Yemen air strikes as a “glitch” and maintained support for his senior national security team despite the security breach.
In a telephone interview with NBC, Trump, who resumed office in January, stated the breach was “the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one.”
The president further defended National Security Advisor Mike Waltz saying he “has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man.”
Offering clarification on how the situation unfolded, Trump said that “it was one of Michael’s people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there,” regarding Goldberg’s receipt of a connection request from a user identified as Michael Waltz on Signal.
This comes after Trump, earlier in the day, had avoided acknowledging the breach. During Monday’s interaction with the media, Trump had responded by saying, “I don’t know anything about it. You’re telling me about it for the first time.” He subsequently dismissed The Atlantic’s claims by remarking that it was “not much of a magazine.”

The incident is centred around Monday’s report by The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg about conversations on the Signal messaging application, to which he was also added, leading to intense scrutiny for the Trump administration. Senior officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance along with Waltz were involved in discussions about attacks on Iran-backed Huthi rebels, in the chat.
Goldberg reported being added to the chat two days before the Yemen strikes, receiving messages from officials designating representatives for the operation. While the leak could have compromised operations had Goldberg published details beforehand, he refrained from doing so.
The report revealed internal views about key allies. Someone identified as Vance expressed reluctance about the strikes, criticising “bailing Europe out again,” noting European nations faced greater impact from Huthi shipping attacks than America.
Messages attributed to Hegseth and Waltz argued only Washington could execute the strikes, with the Defense Secretary acknowledging Vance’s “loathing of European free-loading” and describing Europeans as “pathetic.”
The White House intensified its response on the second day of the incident, after acknowledging the breach on Monday.
However, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had stated on X that “no ‘war plans’ were discussed” and “no classified material was sent to the thread.” She criticised Goldberg for his “sensationalist spin.”
Leavitt indicated 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.” The administration was also “looking into how Goldberg’s number was inadvertently added to the thread.”
Hegseth, previously a Fox News presenter without experience managing a large organisation like the Pentagon, stated late Monday that “nobody was texting war plans.”
Democratic leaders have condemned the breach, suggesting potential illegality and requesting an investigation into officials’ use of commercial applications for sensitive discussions.
As the concerns around reported data breach spread, US Senate Intelligence Committee’s Republican chair, Senator Tom Cotton, told Fox and Friends the group chat matter “will come up” during the hearing. “John Ratcliffe, Tulsi Gabbard and the other leaders will have a chance to address it, but I do hope that we keep the focus on the decisive action that the president took against these outlaw rebels in Yemen,” Cotton said.
The Huthi rebels, controlling much of Yemen for over ten years, belong to the “axis of resistance” of pro-Iran groups opposing Israel and the United States.
They have conducted numerous drone and missile attacks on vessels near Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden during the Gaza conflict, claiming solidarity with Palestinians.