Messages about “bailing Europe out again” and “European free-loading” were among the leaked texts after a journalist was accidentally added to a top-level Trump government group chat.
On Monday, Editor in chief of the Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg revealed he had been added to a Signal group where Donald Trump’s top team were planning air strikes against the Houthis in Yemen.
Goldberg said he had been invited from an account labelled White House National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, and that the group included accounts labelled as Vice-President JD Vance, “Pete Hegseth,” the Defence Secretary; and “John Ratcliffe,” the director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
The journalist watched as the group discussed targets and timings for military strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, with later US strikes matching the details from the chat.
As part of his report, Goldberg revealed some of the messages that were sent in the chat. This included messages of anti-Europe sentiment, including one text from Vance in which he said he “hates bailing Europe out again.”
In response, Hegseth said: “VP, I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC.”
The texts also called for Saudi interests to be protected by minimising the “risk to Saudi oil facilities.”
Reacting to the messages on X, one person said the messages were proof that the Trump administration is “Putin’s ultimate fantasy.”
After Goldberg’s report broke, the White House later confirmed the story was true, with Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the National Security Council. saying in a statement to the BBC: “At this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic.
“We are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain.
“The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy co-ordination between senior officials.”
Shortly after this statement, Trump was asked about the story by a reporter, and claimed he was not aware of the reports.
He 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.
“It [the story] couldn’t have been very effective. Because the attack [on the Houthis] was very effective I can tell you that. You’re telling me about it [the story] for the first time.”