White House says Trump confident in aides after Yemen leaks

The White House says US President Donald Trump remains confident in his top advisers after The Atlantic published what it says are Yemen “attack plans” shared in a group chat that inadvertently included the magazine’s editor.
The messages, sent by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, include the times of strikes and the types of aircraft used.Who is Jeffrey Goldberg, the journalist at the centre of leaks?
The Signal leak that has sparked an uproar apparently started with Waltz adding Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, to the group chat discussing the Yemen strikes.

Today, the White House chided Goldberg for making the exchange public, calling him an “anti-Trump hater” and citing his perceived journalistic failures, including promoting false reports about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction prior to the US’s 2003 invasion.

Goldberg is one of the most well-known journalists in the US.

He previously served as an Israeli “military policeman” in a prison that housed Palestinians during the first Intifada.

He has worked for several publications, most notably as Middle East and Washington correspondent for The New Yorker.

Goldberg joined The Atlantic magazine in 2007 as a national correspondent and became its top editor in 2016.

Under his leadership, the magazine has championed support for Ukraine and Israel. It has emerged as a defender for hawkish foreign policy and centrism at home, often rebuking the left in the US as well as Trump and his supporters.

Trump has repeatedly attacked Goldberg after the journalist reported in 2020, citing anonymous sources, that the then-president called American soldiers killed during World War I and buried in a cemetery in France “losers” and “suckers”.

Former US President Joe Biden cited that report incessantly during both of his presidential campaigns against Trump before dropping out of the 2024 race. Trump has denied the report and dubbed it “fake news”.‘In Washington, people are calling this Signal-gate’How do you know this is not going to go away? Well, in Washington, people are calling this Signal-gate. It’s already got that tag stuck on it, and that suggests it’s going to hang around for a while.

Certainly, the White House is putting on a full-throated defence. You’ve heard from the press secretary, you’ve heard from Donald Trump. He is going to speak in the next couple of hours at an event on tariffs; you can almost certainly guarantee he’ll be asked about this.

And we’re hearing from others in the administration, who keep repeating the line that the operation was a success, no classified information was shared, that this is a hit-job by a journalist who can’t be trusted.

The White House can continue this full-throated defence, but this isn’t going to go away any time soon.More Democrats call for Hegseth’s resignation
Here’s a quick look at some of the latest remarks:

Senator Tammy Duckworth: “This is so clearly classified info he [Hegseth] recklessly leaked that could’ve gotten our pilots killed. He needs to resign in disgrace immediately.”
Senator Mark Warner (top Democrat on Senate Intelligence Committee): “It’s time for people to resign. At this point, I have to ask … when will my Republican colleagues publicly join us in saying enough is enough, our national security is at stake?”
Senator Chris Murphy: “Pete Hegseth needs to resign. There needs to be accountability right now. Because every hour that goes by with no accountability, American credibility all around the world is being destroyed.”‘Someone made a big mistake’: Rubio
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been asked about the Signal controversy during a visit to Jamaica.

“Obviously, someone made a mistake. Someone made a big mistake and added a journalist.”

But he referred to the Pentagon’s determination that “none of the information” included in the chat threatened the lives of US servicemembers.

“I think the Pentagon’s made clear that nothing on there would have endangered the lives or the mission, and the mission’s been very successful.”

Asked if the information included in the chat was classified, Rubio replied: “Well, the Pentagon says it was not.”