MINUTE-BY-MINUTE details from a Signal group chat discussing Trump’s plans to strike Houthi rebels have been released.
The White House blasted The Atlantic editor in chief who was added to the group chat and published the exchange, slamming the blunder as “oversold” and a “hoax.”
On Monday, Jeffrey Goldberg revealed select messages from the group that was organized on March 11.
The initial messages Goldberg released showed multiple cabinet officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Vice President JD Vance, coordinating bombings on Houthi targets in Yemen.
Goldberg also said more detailed attack plans were included in the group hours before the strikes began on March 15, but he withheld publishing them out of national security concerns.
On Tuesday, the advisers insisted no war plans were disclosed in the messages after The Atlantic published an initial story about the breach.
“Nobody was texting war plans. And that’s all I have to say about that,” Hegseth said on Monday.
‘WAR PLAN’ TEXTS RELEASED
On Wednesday, Goldberg fired back at the denial by releasing the full string of bombshell messages, which the journalist said he received two hours before the attack in the Middle East took place.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt immediately slammed the story and emphasized on X that the messages were not war plans.
“This entire story was another hoax written by a Trump-hater who is well-known for his sensationalist spin,” Leavitt blasted.
At a White House press briefing on Wednesday, Leavitt criticized Goldberg as an “anti-Trump hater” who is a registered Democrat.
Goldberg insisted his apparently inadvertent access to the group message raised concerns about national security protocol within the Trump administration.
“If this text had been received by someone hostile to American interests – or someone merely indiscreet, and with access to social media – the Houthis would have had time to prepare for what was meant to be a surprise attack on their strongholds,” Goldberg wrote.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”‘Smacks of laziness’ and ‘tragically comedic’… How Trump war group chat risked lives after ‘biggest f*** up imaginable’” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”pV1KxHf2t” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6370517716112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]TEXTS FROM SATURDAY, MARCH 15
While the initial text released by Goldberg discussed the attack in broad planning terms, the texts published on Wednesday give a minute-by-minute breakdown of the plan to use F-18 fighter jets and drones to bomb multiple places in several waves.
The conversation started with a “team update” from Hegseth at 11:44 am, where he laid out the timeline of the attack on the Houthis, where American aircraft were aiming to kill a specific “target terrorist.”
“TIME NOW (1144et): Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch,” Hegseth wrote, followed by a timeline of launches.
“1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package).
“1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s).
“1410: More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package).
“1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ‘Trigger Based’ targets).
“1536 F-18 2nd Strike Starts – also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched.
“MORE TO FOLLOW (per timeline).”
“We are currently clean on OPSEC,” he finished the initial update, referring to operations security.
“Godspeed to our Warriors.”
The texts were sent 31 minutes before the first planes took off and two hours before the first bombs fell.
Waltz sent a text with an update about the attack site at 1:48 pm, three minutes after the initial strike occurred.
“VP. Building collapsed. Had multiple positive ID. Pete, Kurilla, the IC, amazing job,” he wrote.
He marked “multiple positive ID,” meaning they identified and killed their Houthi target.
“Amazing job,” Waltz added – but the text wasn’t clearly received.
Six minutes later, Vance shared a stunned reaction to the message.
“What?” the vice president said.
Waltz then clarified his previous message.
“Typing too fast,” he explained.
“The first target – their top missile guy – we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and it’s now collapsed.”
Vance responded “excellent,” and John Ratcliffe, the director of the CIA, wrote that it was a “good start.”
Hegseth told the group that more attacks were to come.
“Great job all. More strikes ongoing for hours tonight, and will provide full initial report tomorrow,” Hegseth wrote.
Goldberg withheld details of the conversation in his initial bombshell report on Monday revealing he had been looped in on the Signal text.
FIRST SIGNAL BOMBSHELL
The Atlantic editor in chief said he was mistakenly added to the Signal chat, which reportedly included 18 White House officials.
In the story, called “The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans,” Goldberg said he spoke with Waltz on the messaging app on March 11.
Days later, he was added to a group message called “Houthi PC Small Group.”
Goldberg claimed he was given the callsign “JG” when he joined the chat, which led him to believe Waltz might have mistaken his number for Jamieson Greer, the US Trade Representative, due to their initials.
He said Waltz messaged the chat on March 13 and asked them for the best point of contact from each team for the coming weekend.
TEXTS FROM FRIDAY, MARCH 14
At 8:05 am the next day, Waltz texted the group saying they should have a document in their email inboxes about the upcoming attack.
JD Vance is then said to have messaged the group saying, “I think we are making a mistake.”
“[Three] percent of US trade runs through the [Suez Canal]. 40 percent of European trade does,” he said.
“There is a real risk that the public doesn’t understand this or why it’s necessary. The strongest reason to do this is, as POTUS said, to send a message.”
Hegseth replied, “I understand your concerns,” and added, “messaging is going to be tough no matter what – nobody knows who the Houthis are.”
Vance then appeared to accept Hegseth’s argument.
“If you think we should do it let’s go,” he said.
“I just hate bailing Europe out again.”
Then an account appearing to belong to Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller said, “As I heard it, the president was clear: green light, but we soon make clear to Egypt and Europe what we expect in return.”
After the strikes, the officials congratulated each other on the “amazing job” and “good start,” screenshots showed.
Goldberg left the group after the attack, but first reached out to officials including Waltz and Hegseth.
WHITE HOUSE HITS BACK
After The Atlantic published the text thread on Wednesday, White House officials were quick to slam the story as exaggerated.
“It’s very clear Goldberg oversold what he had,” Vance wrote on X.
Waltz said on Fox News on Tuesday that he takes “full responsibility” for the mistake.
“We made a mistake,” he said.
In an X post on Wednesday, he pointed out that the messages didn’t share any locations, sources, or methods involved in the attack.
“No war plans,” he emphasized.
“Foreign partners had already been notified that strikes were imminent.
“Bottom line: President Trump is protecting America and our interests.”
Trump defended Waltz after the incident.
“Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” the president said.
At a briefing on Wednesday, Leavitt emphasized Trump won’t fire anyone because of the mishap.
Leavitt said Trump “continues to have confidence” in his advisers.
EMERGING LAWSUIT
A government watchdog group has announced they’re suing Hegseth and other Trump officials for using Signal to discuss the plans.
American Oversight said in a statement the group is seeking to “recover unlawfully deleted messages and prevent further destruction.”
“This reported disclosure of sensitive military information in a Signal group chat that included a journalist is a five-alarm fire for government accountability and potentially a crime,” said American Oversight Interim Executive Director Chioma Chukwu.
During her opening remarks at a House hearing on Wednesday, Gabbard said the lawsuit “limited” her from speaking about the situation.
[boxout headline=”Experts give verdict on bombshell Trump war chat leak” intro=”The Sun spoke to two security experts about the messages.”]Security expert Will Geddes:
“This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen sensitive, classified information leaked.
“But what is quite fascinating here is that a journalist was supposedly added to a confidential Signal group used by senior members of Trump’s administration — and nobody noticed.
“There was not a higher level of security to ensure only whitelisted individuals could join.
“We’ve all sent messages to the wrong person before, but this is on another level.
“How classified information is handled, stored, and disposed of has to be considered incredibly carefully.
“This undermines not just the specific mission, but also the credibility of everyone involved.”
Former British Army colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon:
“What’s most worrying is not just what was said, but that it happened at all.
“Most of us in the military and security space ditched Signal ages ago.
“For those of us in Europe—and especially for the people in Ukraine—it’s incredibly depressing.
“This gives hope to Putin. It confirms his belief that he’s winning, and that the Americans are divided and distracted.
“Putin, the evil tyrant that he is, is a master strategist. One of his two key goals in invading Ukraine was to decouple Europe from the U.S.
“Reading these messages, you’d think he’s achieved that already.”