Atlantic Editor Says Trump Military Plans Breach Is a ‘Mack Truck-Sized’ Security Gap | Video
The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg explained to Caitlin Collins on Monday why he held back details about military plans several Trump officials accidentally shared with him on Signal, telling the CNN host he was concerned about what he called a “Mack Truck-sized gap in their security.”
“I found out what I needed to find out,” he said. “A, That it was real. And B, that it did represent this kind of gap, a mack truck sized gap in their security.”
Watch their discussion on CNN’s “The Source,” below:
Goldberg revealed earlier Monday in a bombshell report that was accidentally added to a group chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal that included several top top White House officials, inclduing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance. The group openly discussed their plans for a milutary strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen, apparently unaware Goldberg could see everything.
Goldberg told Collins he thought it was a hoax, until the attack was carried out on March 15 exactly as discussed in the group chat.
“It seemed improbable to me because why would they do it on Signal?” Goldberg said. “And why would they invite the editor in chief of The Atlantic to watch?”
He went by the initials JG in the messaging app, and told Collins that none of the officials reached out or followed up, which he called “a level of incuriosity… a level of recklessness that I have not seen in many years of reporting on national security issues.”
Goldberg says he left the chat after collecting enough evidence to confirm it was legitimate, and said he didn’t publish details about the attack because “it felt too confidential” and could potentially endanger American military personnel.
“I found out what I needed to find out,” he said. “A, That it was real. And B, that it did represent this kind of gap, a mack truck sized gap in their security.”
Despite confirmation from the National Security Council that Goldberg’s story is true, Hegseth has since denied that the Signal group chat was real and called Goldberg “deceitful.” President Trump said he knew nothing about the security breach during a press conference Monday.
“You’re telling me about it for the first time,” the president said. “I don’t know anything about it. I’m not a big fan of The Atlantic. To me, it’s a magazine that’s going out of business.”
Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg appeared after Goldberg on Collins’ show “The Source” commending him for his reporting on the accidental release of highly classified information.
“They sent war plans to the wrong guy,” he said. “Now they’re lucky and we’re lucky that that wrong guy is a responsible, patriotic ethical journalist, who just got off this program, who knew not to publish anything.”
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