Donald Trump’s administration was left red-faced last month after journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was mistakenly added to a top secret Signal chat discussing attack plans in Yemen
The mystery of how The Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was added to a top secret Trump administration group chat has been solved at last.
Donald Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz invited the journalist into the Signal group chat discussing strikes in Yemen after he mistakenly saved his number under the contact of another person he meant to include, it has been reported. The misstep, according to three sources, emerged following an internal investigation by the White House. Mr Trump is said to have considered firing Mr Waltz over the blunder, although he was more angry over the fact he had Mr Goldberg’s number rather than revealing details about the strikes.
The Guardian reports Mr Waltz earned a reprieve after taking responsibility for the blunder. Mr Trump was said to not want to give The Atlantic the satisfaction of forcing out a member of his cabinet.
A “forensic review” by the White House found Mr Waltz’s phone saved Mr Goldberg’s number after the journalist emailed the Trump campaign last October. Mr Goldberg’s email was forwarded to Mr Trump’s then spokesperson Brian Hughes who copied and pasted the email – including the signature block with the reporter’s phone number – into a text that was sent to Mr Waltz, so he could be briefed about an upcoming story.
The White House said the number was erroneously saved during a “contact suggestion update” on Mr Waltz’s iPhone, a function that adds a previously unknown number to a contact it believes is related. But the error went unnoticed – until Mr Waltz inadvertently added Mr Goldberg to the chat.
The chat included messages detailing strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen. High profile members of the administration were in on the chat and spoke candidly about their views on Europe as well as the bombing campaign itself.
Mr Goldberg told The Guardian: “I’m not going to comment on my relationship with Mike Waltz beyond saying I do know him and have spoken to him.”
The Signalgate scandal was the first major gaffe by the Trump administration and laid bare the casual approach taken by members of the administration to matters of national security.
The National Security Agency – the US version of GCHQ – reportedly issued an urgent warning to officials about the risks associated with using the Signal app in the weeks before the Signalgate bust-up.
One western intelligence source previously told The Mirror: “This is basic, schooldays stuff that all intelligence or military people should know. But it’s almost as if whoever wrote the warning in the NSA predicted Trump’s people would make such a basic, dumb mistake that has made a mockery of US intelligence and security.”