The Atlantic magazine has published new messages from the Houthi strike chat between key Trump officials that its editor-in-chief was mistakenly added to. Follow the latest here – and listen to the Trump 100 podcast as you scroll.
Wednesday 26 March 2025 15:25, UK
Live reporting by Kieren Williams
The journalist who broke the group chat story has explained why he shared the Pete Hegseth texts this morning.
Jeffrey Goldberg told MSNBC: “At a certain point, the administration is saying that there’s nothing classified or secret or sensitive in these – so I just felt, you know, let our readers decide for themselves”.
He added that “we didn’t do this lightly”.
Allies of the president and his cabinet have been fiercely defending themselves and attempting to discredit Goldberg.
But The Atlantic editor was keen to make sure that, in the midst of all the classic team Trump noise, their mistakes are plain to see.
“What we’re reacting to here is Trump administration officials saying that there’s nothing sensitive in this chat,” he said.
“If the timing of a combat mission – an imminently launched combat mission – is not sensitive government information, I simply don’t know what is.”
Yesterday, when facing a grilling from Congress over the Signal fiasco, Donald Trump’s controversial director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said she was not aware of any discussion relating to weapons packages, targets or timings shared on the group chat.
She’s facing Congress again today and, as you can imagine, she’s not been getting an easy ride of it.
Democrat Jim Himes asked her a short time ago how she’d managed to forget, in just two weeks, that Pete Hegseth had shared details about upcoming strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen – which included timings, weapons packages and targets.
“My answer yesterday was based on my recollection or the lack thereof on the details posted there,” Gabbard responded.
By David Blevins, correspondent in Washington DC
Reporters keep their receipts.
That’s why it was a dangerous game for the US administration to try to discredit Jeffrey Goldberg.
It left the editor of The Atlantic with little option but to publish more detail.
His follow-up piece reveals that the group chat on the Signal app contained information that could only be described as classified.
Weather conditions, exact timings, targets and the weapons to be used.
Yesterday, National Intelligence Secretary Tulsi Gabbard told the Senate Intelligence Committee she didn’t remember “discussion of specific timings and weapons”.
It would be difficult to deny that the information would have put the lives of US pilots at risk had it fallen into the wrong hands.
The fact that senior administration officials were using a messaging app for this kind of conversation is shocking.
The fact that everyone from the President down has sought to downplay this as “a glitch” and not classified, not so shocking.
In normal times, heads would roll for this, but these are not normal times in the White House.
Vice President JD Vance says it’s very clear the reporter “oversold” what he had.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt goes further, claiming he has “conceded these were not war plans”.
Last night, Ms Levitt told the reporter they stood by their view that there was no classified information in the chat but didn’t want him to publish it.
If lesson number one is don’t use a messaging app for such a sensitive conversation, lesson number two is don’t blame the journalist.
He was always going to have kept his receipts.
More reaction to bring you now from the top of the White House.
The Trump administration has gone on the attack after The Atlantic published its second story.
It spent yesterday calling Jeffrey Goldberg “sensationalist” and calling his reporting into question.
Today it’s been forced to deal with the fallout from a second story.
However, Trump’s most senior officials have stuck to their guns – and their tried and tested playbook.
Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt claimed the story’s publication proves the White House’s earlier point that no war plans were published in the chat.
The Trump team’s defence has hung largely on two points: that the messages weren’t “war plans” and that it wasn’t classified information.
Regardless of the technicalities over what is and isn’t a “war plan” the messages revealed startlingly specific details of the attacks.
Mike Waltz repeated this claim, saying “NO WAR PLANS”.
The details of the messages, see our 14.33 post, revealed specifics of the timings of the attacks in advance to them being launched.
They also revealed information about the conditions of the attack site, reportedly in Sanaa.
Vice president JD Vance has reacted to The Atlantic’s second story this afternoon.
Previously, Vance touted the White House line claiming Jeffrey Goldberg’s story was “sensationalist”.
Now he’s repeated his criticism of the story.
Taking to social media, he claimed Goldberg “oversold what he had”.
He focused on one point of the story in particular, revolving around the naming of a CIA agent in the group chat.
Read his full post here…
For context:
In the original article, Goldberg said: “‘John Ratcliffe’ wrote at 5:24 p.m. with the name of a CIA official to be included in the group.
“I am not publishing that name, because that person is an active intelligence officer.”
In the follow-up piece, The Atlantic said that a CIA spokesperson asked them to withhold the individual’s name, saying they were Ratcliffe’s chief of staff.
This, it said, was because “CIA intelligence officers are traditionally not publicly identified.”
It added: “Ratcliffe had testified earlier yesterday that the officer is not undercover and said it was ‘completely appropriate’ to share their name in the Signal conversation.
“We will continue to withhold the name of the officer.”
The Atlantic magazine has published what it said was a timeline of war plans shared by the US defence secretary in a group chat that mistakenly included a journalist.
The latest revelation comes after the White House had sought to downplay the leak of information about plans to strike Houthi rebels in Yemen – saying no classified information had been disclosed.
The plan was shared in a group chat on messaging app Signal that included senior government officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, as well as a journalist, The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.
He was added to the group chat on 13 March. The strikes eventually took place on 15 March.
In its latest article, Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal, The Atlantic said that on the day of the attack “the discussion veered toward the operational”.
It quoted Mr Hegseth as posting operational details of the plan, including weapon packages, targets and timing.
He texted: “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)”.
Further texts by the Pentagon chief followed, the magazine reported: “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)”.
He also posted: “1536 F-18 2nd Strike Starts – also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched”. And then: “MORE TO FOLLOW (per timeline)”.
“We are currently clean on OPSEC” (operational security), he added.
“Godspeed to our Warriors.”
Good afternoon and welcome back to our live coverage, after the a major security breach was revealed among top US officials.
A journalist was accidently added to a Signal group chat in which the US defence secretary and other high-ranking officials discussed plans to bomb Yemen.
The Atlantic magazine has now published what it said is a timeline of the war plans shared.
Before we bring you all the latest updates and analysis, here is a quick recap of yesterday’s key moments:
That’s all for tonight.
Scroll down to catch up on the day’s developments and stick with Sky News tomorrow for any more news on the US security breach.
First off, let’s summarise everything that’s happened so far:
Then here’s a timeline of events leading up to the article’s publication:
And watch more on the “stunning security breach” here:
While news of the security breach has sent shockwaves not just through Washington, but in Europe too, Trump’s administration has sought to downplay the implications.
They’ve said the information wasn’t classified and said no war plans were discussed.
Donald Trump himself also seemed reluctant to answer questions on it earlier, during an executive order signing.
However, the story shows no sign of going away, so here’s what to keep an eye out for.
Will anyone be fired?
Trump resisted being drawn on whether anyone would be fired in the fallout from the security breach.
But earlier, Sky News was told that he might take action if he begins to personally feel the heat from this issue.
If it does come to that, who will be fired?
His options would seemingly be some of his most senior officials and loyal supporters.
Firing someone would also be an apparent admission of wrongdoing – something the White House has avoided so far.
What will any ‘looking into’ the breach find?
The Democratic Party has led calls for a formal investigation to be held into the security breach.
Members of the relevant Senate committee are said to be weighing up their next steps.
But the Trump administration has so far resisted such calls.
Mike Waltz earlier said: “We’re looking into and reviewing how the heck he [the journalist] got into this room.”
It isn’t clear how deep this “looking into” is, or if it will resemble an investigation.
Similarly, what will be the findings and will a government that has repeatedly stressed its commitment to transparency publish them?
Is there more to come from Goldberg?
Jeffrey Goldberg, the Atlantic editor who published the original piece and was added to the group chat, said he didn’t want to share any more sensitive information.
But, talking to CNN, Goldberg said: “I’m just continuing my reporting. More TK.”
TK is an abbreviation for “to come”, suggesting this story isn’t over yet.
How widespread is the use of Signal?
During the executive order signing, Trump was eventually drawn on the security breach.
He claimed not to know much, but did say that Signal was widely used within the government, and the army as well.
Trump wouldn’t elaborate on whether this use included more sensitive discussions, or was purely for planning the next Friday social.
There were 18 people in the group chat that planned the US airstrikes targeting Houthi rebels in Yemen this month.
Many of those members were the most senior officials in the Trump administration – and, of course, a journalist who spilled the group’s secrets.
So who was in the chat? Here’s a full breakdown…
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