Hegseth slammed The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg for his claim that someone in the White House accidentally gave him war plans. He told reporters that Goldberg “peddles garbage.”
Hegseth, after arriving in Hawaii on Monday, told reporters that “nobody was texting about war plans.”
The National Security Council said, however, that the message thread appeared to be genuine.
Goldberg, in an article published Monday, wrote that he had accepted a “connection” request from White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz on March 11, thinking Waltz wanted to “chat about Ukraine, Iran, or other important matters.”
Goldberg claims that Vice President J.D. Vance, Hegseth, and Waltz discussed possible military action against the Houthis in Yemen on the group chat. Hegseth’s post “contained operational detail of upcoming strikes on Yemen including information about a target, weapons that the U.S. will be deploying and attack sequence” was noted by the editor.
Hegseth fired at Goldberg.
“You’re dealing with a so-called journalist who is deceitful, highly discredited, and has made it a career to peddle hoaxes. I’m not sure if you’re referring to the hoaxes about ‘Russia, Russia and Russia’, or the fine people on both sides’ hoaxes. Hegseth referred to the’ suckers-and-losers’ hoax or past reports that were eventually refuted about Donald Trump.
“So this is the guy that peddles in garbage. This is what he does,” Hegseth told the gaggle.
NSC spokesperson Brian Hughes stated that a review is underway to determine how this happened.
“We are looking into how a number was accidentally added to the chain. The thread shows the careful and deep policy coordination among senior officials.” Hughes stated in a press release that the Houthi’s continued success shows there was no threat to our servicemen or national security.
Karoline Leavitt, White House spokesperson, said in a late-Monday statement that the president has “absolute confidence” in Waltz as well as the National Security Team.
Politico reports that there are already discussions in the West Wing about Waltz’s firing.
One official told Politico: “You cannot be reckless as national security advisor.”
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss. ), who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee told reporters on Monday “We are very concerned about this, and we will be looking into it in a bipartisan manner.”
John Thune, R.-S.D. The Senate Majority Leader wants to know more about the incident.
Thune said, “We have to take it down to the ground and figure out what happened there.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) took a forgiving stance.
Johnson stated that it would be a grave mistake if there were to be negative consequences for any of those who took part in the call. They were doing their best, and the mission was completed with precision.