The White House on Wednesday accused The Atlantic of sensationalizing the content of additional “attack plans” messages that the outlet released after administration officials denied sharing classified information in a Signal group chat that its reporter was inadvertently added to.
The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was mistakenly added to a Signal group chat of top Trump military and intelligence officials to monitor airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. The Atlantic’s first article on the chat, published Monday, left out messages that Goldberg said contained sensitive “attack plans” that could damage U.S. national security if released.
The outlet published those redacted messages on Wednesday after Trump officials denied on Tuesday that any classified information was shared in the group chat. “There was no classified information as I understand it,” President Donald Trump said on Tuesday.
The messages released by Goldberg were sent by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at 11:44 a.m. ET on the morning of March 15, the day of the strike on the Houthis. The messages, sent to the group roughly two hours before the strike was delivered, said:
TEAM UPDATE:
TIME NOW (1144et): Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch.
1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)
1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s)”
1410: More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package)
1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ‘Trigger Based’ targets)
1536 F-18 2nd Strike Starts – also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched.
MORE TO FOLLOW (per timeline)
We are currently clean on OPSEC.
Godspeed to our Warriors.
Vice President JD Vance slammed Goldberg after the publication of the additional messages, accusing The Atlantic chief of sensationalizing the contents of messages that he had originally kept from the public.
“It’s very clear Goldberg oversold what he had,” the vice president posted on X.
“But one thing in particular really stands out. Remember when he was attacking Ratcliffe for blowing the cover for a CIA agent? Turns out [CIA Director John Ratcliffe] was simply naming his chief of staff,” Vance said. The Atlantic, at the request of the CIA, kept redacted the name of Ratcliffe’s chief of staff because the identities of CIA intelligence officers are typically protected.
Ratcliffe had testified to Congress on Tuesday that his chief of staff was not operating undercover, and so naming him in the Signal chat was “completely appropriate.”
National Security Adviser Mike Waltz posted after after the additional messages were public: “No locations. No sources & methods. NO WAR PLANS. Foreign partners had already been notified that strikes were imminent. BOTTOM LINE: President Trump is protecting America and our interests.”
The Atlantic reached out to the White House and top intelligence officials before publishing the additional messages, asking if government officials had any reservations about the outlet doing so. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt emphasized that no “classified information” was shared in the group, but that the messages contained “sensitive information” that should not be made public.
“As we have repeatedly stated, there was no classified information transmitted in the group chat. However, as the CIA Director and National Security Advisor have both expressed today, that does not mean we encourage the release of the conversation. This was intended to be a an [sic] internal and private deliberation amongst high-level senior staff and sensitive information was discussed. So for those reason [sic] — yes, we object to the release,” Leavitt told The Atlantic in a statement.
After The Atlantic published the additional messages, Leavitt responded to the story on X.
“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,” Leavitt wrote.
