In a series of hilarious and utterly merciless posts on X (formerly Twitter), White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt demolished the claims made by The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who had claimed that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and other top Trump Administration members had discussed “war plans” in a group chat to which he was added. Leavitt exposed Goldberg as a lying “sensationalist.”
As background, Goldberg’s article alleged that the chat to which he was supposedly added was one in which the members of the Trump Administration, including men like Hegseth and Vice President Vance, discussed the administration’s forthcoming “war plans” against the Houthis.
For example, at one point in the article, Goldberg claimed, “What I will say, in order to illustrate the shocking recklessness of this Signal conversation, is that the Hegseth post contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.”
That was soon exposed to be a ridiculously sensationalized claim, one the Trump Administration called a hoax, as in reality the Trump Admin members discussed an attack on the Houthis that was just hours away and the American public already generally understood to be underway. Amongst those in the Trump Administration who slammed Goldberg’s reporting was Karoline Leavitt, who did so in a series of posts on X.
In one such post on Tuesday, March 25, for example, Leavitt wrote, “As I said yesterday, the President continues to have confidence in his national security team, including Mike Waltz. Stories claiming otherwise are driven by anonymous sources who clearly do not speak to the President, and written by reporters who are thirsty for a ‘scoop.'”
Writing in another post on that same day, Leavitt hammered the “sensationalist” nature of Goldberg’s claims, saying, “Jeffrey Goldberg is well-known for his sensationalist spin. Here are the facts about his latest story: 1. No “war plans” were discussed. 2. No classified material was sent to the thread. 3. The White House 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.”
Continuing in that post, Leavitt noted that the concern amongst administration members is not the content of the chat, but how the woke reporter managed to get added to it. She said, “As the National Security Council stated, the White House is looking into how Goldberg’s number was inadvertently added to the thread.”
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Further, she reminded readers that the strike on the Houthis was a success, saying, “Thanks to the strong and decisive leadership of President Trump, and everyone in the group, the Houthi strikes were successful and effective. Terrorists were killed and that’s what matters most to President Trump.”
That wasn’t all. In still another post, Leavitt noted that The Atlantic, with its changed headline about “attack plans,” had backtracked somewhat from its initial, absurd “war plans” claim. She said, “The Atlantic has conceded: these were NOT “war plans.” This entire story was another hoax written by a Trump-hater who is well-known for his sensationalist spin.”
Watch Leavitt sound off on the claims here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video