National Security Adviser Mike Waltz took "full responsibility" on Tuesday for mistakenly adding the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic to a Signal chat group where discussions about military strikes against the Houthis in Yemen were taking place. "Well, look, a staffer wasn't responsible," Waltz said during an interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham.
This was his first public statement since The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg revealed he had access to the Trump administration's internal discussions and planning for the March 15 airstrikes after Waltz inadvertently included him in the encrypted Signal group chat. "Look, I take full responsibility," Waltz added. "I built the group. My job is to make sure everything's coordinated."
Waltz Takes Blame on Himself
When questioned by the host of The Ingraham Angle about why Goldberg's number was in his contacts in the first place, the White House official said he had no idea. "Have you ever had somebody's contact that shows their name and then you have somebody else's number there?" Waltz started.
"So, of course I didn't see this loser in the group," he continued, describing Goldberg as an antagonist of Trump like many others believe. "It looked like someone else.
"Now, whether he did it deliberately or it happened by some other technical means is something we're trying to figure out."
Waltz called the situation "embarrassing" but promised that the White House would thoroughly investigate the matter.
"I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but of all the people out there, somehow this guy who has lied about the president, who has lied to Gold Star families, lied to their attorneys, and gone to Russia hoax, gone to just all kinds of lengths to lie and smear the president of the United States, and he's the one that somehow gets on somebody's contact and then gets sucked into this group," Waltz bemoaned.
The national security adviser said that he does not think Goldberg, whom he referred to as "vile," was deliberately added to the group by a rogue White House staffer.
Waltz hinted that tech mogul and Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk could help the White House in uncovering what went wrong.
"I just talked to Elon on the way here," Waltz said. "We've got the best technical minds looking at how this happened."
"But I can tell you for 100% — I don't know this guy. I know him by his horrible reputation. And he really is the bottom scum of journalists," he vehemently said of Goldberg.
Scandal Continues to Haunt Trump Admin
Goldberg's explosive report revealed that he had connected with Waltz on Signal on March 11 and was mistakenly added two days later to a chat group called "Houthi PC small group." The group included high-ranking administration officials such as Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
The journalist released screenshots of the group's discussions leading up to the successful military operation, showing that Vance was initially against the strikes, citing concerns that they could drive up oil prices and primarily benefit Europe.
During a CNN interview on Monday, Goldberg stated that "war plans" and "attack plans" were also part of the discussions, though he chose not to share those screenshots due to national security considerations, including, "When targets were going to be targeted; how they were going to be targeted; who was at the targets; when the next sequence of attacks was happening."
Waltz maintained that "no classified information" was shared in the group chat.
However, the Trump administration official said that he does not want Goldberg to release the full conversation. "I certainly want our deliberations to stay confidential," Waltz told Ingraham.
"I don't want it all out there," he said, calling the Signal exchange a "healthy policy debate."
On Tuesday, Trump referred to the Signal mishap as the "only glitch" his administration has experienced since he took office.
"And it turned out not to be a serious one," the commander in chief said at the White House, indicating that he is standing behind Waltz and his team.
"Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he's a good man," the president told NBC News in a brief interview, claiming that "It was one of Michael's people on the phone" that included Goldberg on the chain.
