Trump brushes off Yemen chat breach as a ‘glitch’ (2025)

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump on March 25 dismissed the accidental addition of a journalist to a group chat about Yemen air strikes as a “glitch” and stood by his top national security team despite the stunning breach.

Mr Trump’s administration faces mounting pressure following a report on March 24 by The Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg about the conversation on the Signal messaging app.

The chat about attacks on Iran-backed Houthi rebels involved some of the administration’s most senior officials, including Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice-President J.D. Vance and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.

Mr Trump, who returned to office in January, told broadcaster NBC in a phone interview that the breach was “the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one”.

The President added that Mr Waltz, his top security official in the White House, “has learnt a lesson, and he’s a good man”.

Mr Goldberg said he had received a connection request from a user identified as Michael Waltz on Signal. Mr Trump said, however, that “it was one of Michael’s people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there”.

The White House had earlier pushed back more forcefully on day two of the scandal, after confirming the breach on March 24.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on social media platform X on March 25 that “no ‘war plans’ were discussed” and “no classified material was sent to the thread”.

She also attacked Mr Goldberg as being “well known for his sensationalist spin”.

Mr Hegseth, a former Fox News host with no experience running a huge organisation like the Pentagon, had also said late on March 24 that “nobody was texting war plans”.

But top Democrats have condemned the breach, saying it was potentially illegal and calling for an investigation to find out why officials were using a commercially available app for sensitive discussions.

Ms Leavitt said the White House’s 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 White House was also “looking into how Goldberg’s number was inadvertently added to the thread”.

European free-loading

Mr Trump announced the strikes on the Houthis on March 15, but Mr Goldberg said he had hours of advance notice via the group chat.

Two other officials on the chat, director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Central Intelligence Agency chief John Ratcliffe, were due to speak to the US Senate Intelligence Committee on March 25.

The panel’s Republican chair, Senator Tom Cotton, told Fox and Friends on March 25 that the group chat issue “will come up” at 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,” Mr Cotton said.

Mr Goldberg said he was added to the group chat two days before the Yemen strikes, and received messages from other top government officials designating representatives who would work on the issue.

The leak could have been highly damaging if Mr Goldberg had publicised details of the plan in advance, but he did not do so.

But the report did reveal details of what top White House officials think about key allies.

A person identified as Vance expressed doubts about carrying out the strikes, saying he hated “bailing Europe out again”, as countries there were more affected by Houthi attacks on shipping than the United States.

Contributors identified as Mr Hegseth and Mr Waltz both sent messages arguing that only Washington had the capability to carry out the strikes, with the Pentagon chief saying he shared Mr Vance’s “loathing of European free-loading” and calling the Europeans “pathetic”.

The Houthi rebels, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are part of the “axis of resistance” of pro-Iran groups staunchly opposed to Israel and the US.

They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks at ships passing Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden during the Gaza war, saying these attacks were carried out in solidarity with Palestinians. AFP