On Monday, Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, revealed he had been invited to a group chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal from an account labelled White House National Security Adviser Michael Waltz.
Goldberg reported that the group included accounts labelled as Waltz and Vice-President JD Vance.
The journalist said he had been added to the chat on March 13 and watched as the group members discussed targets and timings for military strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
Along with Vance and Waltz, group members included accounts labelled “Pete Hegseth,” the Defence Secretary; and “John Ratcliffe,” the director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
The US later launched attacks on targets that matched with details from the chat.
The farcical set of events has already been dubbed #SignalGate and the internet has had a field day with the story.
Hilary Clinton was one of the first to react, simply writing what many must have been thinking when they saw the story break…
One person imagined if a similar blunder had taken place in 1944…
Another reckoned the revelation of a group chat could lead to some awkward chats with Trump’s right-hand-man…
Someone else wondered if a certain former prime minister might like the sound of being sent some ‘intelligence’…
A fourth took aim at Defence Secretary Hegseth and his reported fondness for a drink…
And another joked that maybe Goldberg would have to ‘opt out of war plans.’
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.”
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