Trump Brushes Off Atlantic Security Breach, Says Michael Waltz ‘Learned a Lesson’

President Donald Trump is not too upset with White House officials accidentally sharing war plans with The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, apparently.

The president on Tuesday morning said national security advisor Michael Waltz –who inadvertently added Goldberg to a Signal group chat in which several Trump officials discussed striking the Houthis — had “learned a lesson.”

President Trump told NBC News reporter Garrett Haake he believed Goldberg’s presence in the group chat had “no impact at all,” before adding it was his administration’s “only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one.” The odds of Waltz losing his job on Polymarket and Kalshi, two betting platforms, dropped from about 30-35% on Monday evening to around 15% on Tuesday morning following President Trump’s remarks.

His comments came a day after Goldberg reported he was accidentally included in a group chat with Trump officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, where they discussed “imminent war plans” earlier this month.

The inadvertent messages were sent to Goldberg via Signal, the encrypted messaging app, in the days leading up to the U.S. launching air and naval strikes against the Houthis in Yemen. The strikes were made “in an effort to open international shipping lanes in the Red Sea that the Houthis have disrupted for months with their own attacks,” The New York Times reported on March 15, the day the strikes took place.

The messages show the back-and-forth discussion between Trump Administration officials over whether the U.S. should strike the Houthis now or wait until April or later. There were 18 people included in the group chat, including Goldberg, who was accidentally added by Waltz.

On Tuesday morning while appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Goldberg said he found it “notable” that Vice President Vance “articulated a view that the president didn’t understand the consequences or stakes” of striking the Houthis.

“I just think it’s noteworthy, just from a journalistic perspective, that the Vice President is is being so blunt about that,” Goldberg said on “Morning Joe.”

In the group chat messages, Vance initially expressed reservations about the plan, saying, “I think we are making a mistake.” He said there is a “real risk” that the public “doesn’t understand this or why” a strike is necessary.

“I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now. There’s a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices,” Vance added. “I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself. But there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc.”

Hegseth said he understood the vice president’s concerns and supported him raising them with President Trump.

“I think messaging is going to be tough no matter what – nobody knows who the Houthis are – which is why we would need to stay focused on: 1) Biden failed & 2) Iran funded,” Hegseth said.

Later, after more discussion among the group, Vance said he supported the move. “If you think we should do it let’s go,” he relented. “I just hate bailing Europe out again.”

Goldberg noted the Trump Administration feels the U.S. Navy carries an unnecessarily heavy burden policing the seas for our European allies and other countries.

Hegseth similarly told Vance, “I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC.”

Goldberg then on Tuesday told the “Morning Joe” crew that he was “surprised” by his accidental inclusion on the group chat.

“From an encryption standpoint, you lose your government secrecy if you mistakenly invite the editor of The Atlantic into the chat, obviously,” Goldberg said. “But, you know, Signal — we all use Signal, for good reason. But nevertheless, it is not supposed to be used by government officials to talk about national security. It is technically considered an unclassified platform.”

You can read Goldberg’s full story by clicking here.

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