President Donald Trump got angry fast after learning his national security adviser Mike Waltz dropped Jeffrey Goldberg into a Signal group chat about upcoming military action.
But it wasn’t the breach that pissed him off the most—it was the fact that Waltz had The Atlantic’s liberal editor-in-chief’s number saved in his phone. That detail alone made Trump question what kind of relationship Waltz even had with the media.
This info came straight from a Politico report published Tuesday, based on alleged direct conversations with four people who were briefed on the situation. One of them put it plainly: “The president was pissed that Waltz could be so stupid.” And yes, they used the word ‘stupid.’
Trump questioned Waltz directly multiple times on Monday
By Monday night, Trump had already talked to Waltz “multiple times” about what the hell happened. A third individual told Politico that White House legal counsel even began reviewing the case at one point. Trump didn’t hold back when reacting to the embarrassment. Another person familiar with the call said Trump had been “particularly bothered” by how humiliating the whole thing looked, especially since it involved The Atlantic, a publication Trump has hated for years.
Trump’s problem wasn’t about classified info leaking out. The operation against the Houthis—yes, the same one that was discussed in that group chat—had already gone fine. Trump’s irritation was mostly focused on Waltz having Jeffrey’s contact info at all, which made him wonder what else the guy might be keeping in his phone.
Jeffrey somehow landed inside a Signal chat that included top administration figures: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and a handful of others. The group was named “Houthi PC small group” and the topic was live planning for a U.S. military strike.
The platform being used—Signal—has been around for years, but it wasn’t cleared for government work like this. Trump said he’d now be looking into how officials in his own team use encrypted apps like that going forward.
By Tuesday afternoon, the White House moved fast to do damage control. Trump gave quick interviews to NBC News and Fox News, saying he had Waltz’s back. White House spokespeople also got loud on X, blasting the whole situation as a media operation pushed by what they called “national security hawks.”
Trump’s team blames national security community for overhyping Signal episode
Waltz wasn’t hiding. He showed up Tuesday for a planned meeting with Trump’s ambassadors. There, he claimed he didn’t know Jeffrey and had never once spoken to him. “There’s a lot of journalists in this city who have made big names for themselves making up lies,” Waltz said. “This one in particular I’ve never met, don’t know, never communicated with, and we are looking into and reviewing how the heck he got into this room.”
Trump stood behind him. “Mike’s a very good man,” the president told reporters that same day, making it clear he didn’t think the adviser had been treated fairly by the press.
But the White House wasn’t exactly calm about it. The whole situation hit nerves across the administration, especially since Trump has spent the last two months telling everyone this term would have more discipline, fewer leaks, and no freelancing staffers.
Chief of Staff Susie Wiles made loyalty checks part of the onboarding process this time around. The first Trump White House had leaks every other week, but this one has been tighter. That’s why this Jeffrey thing caught people off guard.
And the leaks aren’t just some theory to them. One Trump ally told Politico they’ve literally taken phones and scanned them to see which journalists staffers had been texting. At one point during the transition, Trump’s own campaign advisers threatened to leak fake info just to see where it would end up, to trace where the leaks were coming from.
The Atlantic has been on Trump’s enemies list for years
Trump has had it out for The Atlantic ever since they ran a 2020 story—full of unnamed sources—accusing him of calling fallen American soldiers “suckers and losers.” Trump denied it, but never forgave them. In 2019, the magazine even ran “IMPEACH” in huge red letters across its March cover.
Trump has called the outlet “a third-rate publication” and posted last week on Truth Social that it “has absolutely no credibility” and “will hopefully fold up and be gone in the not too distant future.”
In Jeffrey’s story, he said he left out some of the chat messages to protect American military and intelligence people working in the region. But still, his involvement caused people to lose it. Trump’s base started asking why the hell Waltz had any link to Jeffrey at all. The isolationist wing of the MAGA crowd started sniffing around, asking if Waltz had been feeding Jeffrey info.
A senior White House official went on Fox News to defend Waltz, claiming the contact had been added by another staffer. But later that same night, Waltz got on Fox News himself and said that wasn’t true. He took full responsibility for the screw-up and said Jeffrey’s number had ended up in his group by mistake.
“I built the group,” Waltz said during the interview. “My job is to make sure everything’s coordinated.” That wasn’t what anyone wanted to hear, especially not Trump, who already didn’t love that Jeffrey had access to anything, even by accident.
Even with Trump’s public support, people close to the administration aren’t sure if Waltz will keep skating. One Trump ally said bluntly that the accident put stress on Waltz’s relationship with the inner circle. Another added, “If you let scalps fall off right now — that could set a bad precedent,” warning that pushing out Waltz would crack the stability the administration has built since January.
Still, others argued it may not be over. One adviser said, “The president trusts his team a lot more than he did during his first term. But he is still someone who doesn’t easily forget about mistakes, so just because he’s not getting rid of Waltz or one of the others today, doesn’t mean a day won’t come when a person will sort of run out of rope.”
Loyalty still matters to Trump. And people around him know that once he starts to doubt someone’s judgment or instincts—or worse, their loyalty—they’re already halfway out the door.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung posted on X that “The Atlantic story is nothing more than a section of the NatSec establishment community running the same, tired gameplay from years past.” He said this was just like the “Russia, Russia, Russia” stuff and called it a play by anti-Trump forces using the press to create fake outrage.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt put out a statement the same day, saying Trump “has the utmost confidence in Mike Waltz and his entire national security team.” But none of that means Trump’s going to forget this soon.
Mind you, the embarrassment came after weeks of strict message control and tight inner-circle discipline. Even though the strike itself went fine, the fact that Jeffrey saw anything triggered a panic inside the West Wing. The fallout came fast, but the long-term effects are still sitting there under the surface.
Trump might let Waltz off for now. But if he doubts him again… well let’s just say, the president isn’t known for being patient.
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