Donald Trump calls Yemen group chat breach a ‘glitch’

President Donald Trump has downplayed revelations of a US security breach.

It comes after it was reported that top national security officials for President Trump, including his defence secretary, texted war plans for upcoming military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in a secure messaging app that included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic.

The National Security Council said the text chain “appears to be authentic”.

Mr Trump initially told reporters he was not aware that the highly sensitive information had been shared, more than two hours after it was reported. He later appeared to joke about the breach.

The material in the text chain “contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing”, editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported.

It was not immediately clear if the specifics of the military operation were classified, but they often are and at the least are kept secure to protect service members and operational security.

The US has conducted air strikes against the Houthis since the militant group began targeting commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea in November 2023.

Just two hours after Mr Goldberg received the details of the attack on March 15, the US began launching a series of air strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.

The National Security Council said in a statement that it was looking into how a journalist’s number was added to the chain in the Signal group chat.

In addition to defence secretary Pete Hegseth, it included vice president JD Vance, secretary of state Marco Rubio and Tulsi Gabbard, Mr Trump’s director of national intelligence.

Mr Goldberg said he received the Signal invitation from Mike Waltz, Mr Trump’s national security adviser, who was also in the group chat.

Mr Hegseth in his first comments on the matter attacked Mr Goldberg as “deceitful” and a “discredited so-called journalist” while alluding to previous critical reporting of Mr Trump from the publication.

He did not shed light on why Signal was being used to discuss the sensitive operation or how Mr Goldberg ended up on the message chain.

“Nobody was texting war plans and that’s all I have to say about that,” Mr Hegseth said in an exchange with reporters after landing in Hawaii on Monday as he began his first trip to the Indo-Pacific as defence secretary.

Mr Trump on Tuesday in a brief interview with NBC News’ Garrett Haake downplayed the incident as “the only glitch in two months” of his administration “and it turned out not to be a serious one”.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday said in post on X that no war plans were discussed and that no classified material was sent to the thread”.

Ms Leavitt said on Monday the president still has the “utmost confidence” in Mr Waltz and the national security team. Mr Trump told NBC News on Tuesday that Mr Waltz “has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man”.

Earlier on Monday, Mr Trump told reporters: “I don’t know anything about it. You’re telling me about it for the first time.” He added that The Atlantic was “not much of a magazine”.

Government officials have used Signal for organisational correspondence, but it is not classified and can be hacked. Privacy and tech experts say the popular end-to-end encrypted messaging and voice call app is more secure than conventional texting.

Ms Leavitt said the White House counsel’s office has provided guidance to Mr Trump’s top officials on a number platforms to communicate as safely and efficiently as possible.

The sharing of sensitive information comes as Mr Hegseth’s office has just announced a crackdown on leaks of sensitive information, including the potential use of polygraphs on defence personnel to determine how reporters have received information.

Sean Parnell, a spokesman for Mr Hegseth, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on why the defence secretary posted war operational plans on an unclassified app.

The administration’s handling of the highly sensitive information was swiftly condemned by Democratic politicians. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called for a full investigation.

“This is one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence I have read about in a very, very long time,” Mr Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in a speech on Monday afternoon.

“If true, this story represents one of the most egregious failures of operational security and common sense I have ever seen,” said senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, in a statement.

He said American lives are “on the line. The carelessness shown by Mr Trump’s cabinet is stunning and dangerous. I will be seeking answers from the administration immediately”.

Some Republicans also expressed concerns.

Senator Roger Wicker, the Mississippi Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters: “We’re very concerned about it and we’ll be looking into it on a bipartisan basis.”