Trump officials leak Yemen strike plans in group chat including journalist

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A shocking security breach has rocked Washington after top Trump administration officials texted plans for U.S. strikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels to a group chat that included a journalist. The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, revealed that he had hours of advance notice about the March 15 attacks through a Signal group chat involving Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance.

The revelation sparked outrage among Democrats, who called for an investigation into the leak, while Republicans sought to downplay the incident. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes confirmed the authenticity of the messages and said officials were reviewing “how an inadvertent number was added to the chain.” The White House insisted that President Donald Trump “continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team,” though Trump himself claimed he knew “nothing about” the breach.

Hegseth, a former Fox News host with no prior experience running the Pentagon, refused to take responsibility, dismissing the matter and claiming, “Nobody was texting war plans,” despite the White House confirming the breach. Goldberg, however, detailed in his article that Hegseth had shared specific strike information, including “targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.” He wrote that Hegseth’s text even outlined the exact timing of the first detonations, which proved accurate.

The security lapse could have had serious consequences if Goldberg had publicized the details before the attack. He revealed that he had been added to the group chat two days prior and had seen messages from senior officials designating representatives for handling the operation. On March 14, Vance reportedly expressed doubts about the strikes, complaining that he hated “bailing Europe out again,” since European countries were more affected by Houthi attacks on shipping than the U.S. Other officials in the chat, including National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Hegseth, argued that Washington had no choice but to act, with Hegseth stating he shared Vance’s “loathing of European free-loading.”

The fallout from the leak was swift, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling it “one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence I have read about” and demanding a full investigation. Senator Elizabeth Warren warned that the exchange on a commercial messaging app could be illegal. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was relentlessly criticized by Trump over her use of a private email server, reacted on X with: “You have got to be kidding me.”

Republicans were far less critical, with House Speaker Mike Johnson calling the leak a “mistake” and insisting it “won’t happen again,” according to Axios. Former National Security Adviser John Bolton expressed shock at the recklessness of the situation but said, “I have no faith that the Department of Justice will prosecute anyone involved.”

The security breach comes as the U.S. continues its military campaign against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who have controlled much of the country for over a decade and are aligned with Iran in their opposition to Israel and the U.S. The Houthis have launched numerous drone and missile attacks on Red Sea and Gulf of Aden shipping, crippling a key global trade route. Trump has vowed to “use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective,” escalating the U.S. response to the group’s actions.