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Right-wing media scramble to downplay security breach from Trump officials’ leaked group chat

Fox host Greg Gutfeld said the texts were evidence of “how winners live their lives”

Written by Chloe Simon, Noah Dowe, Jack Wheatley & Gideon Taaffe

Published

On March 24, The Atlantic published a bombshell story from Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg reporting that he had been mistakenly added to a group chat on the messaging app Signal in which senior Trump administration officials discussed plans for a U.S. military strike in Yemen. As controversy mounts over Trump officials’ inclusion of Goldberg and their use of Signal to discuss military operations, right-wing media have frantically attempted to defend the Trump administration from criticism by offering a laundry list of sometimes conflicting excuses.

Right-wing media figures accused Goldberg and The Atlantic of “lying” about details of the story, while others downplayed the seriousness of the messages or denied that there was any classified information discussed in the chat. Some claimed the messages were a “coordinated operation” by Goldberg or were intentionally “leaked” by the Trump administration and “makes them look kind of good.” Others have argued the chat demonstrates “how much better this administration is at conducting foreign policy than the previous Democrat administrations” and “sends a really clear message” to “freeloaders” in Europe.

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  • Journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was mistakenly added to a Signal chat in which Trump officials discussed Yemen strike plans

    • On Monday, The Atlantic reported that Goldberg had been inadvertently added to a Signal group chat composed of Trump administration officials discussing military strike plans against Houthis in Yemen. Goldberg wrote that he “knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming” because “Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, had texted me the war plan at 11:44 a.m.” — including “precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing.” [The Atlantic, 3/24/25] 
    • A week before Goldberg reported on Hegseth and other Trump administration officials using Signal, the Pentagon warned of the app’s “vulnerability.” NPR reported that a March 18 Pentagon memo announced “Russian professional hacking groups are employing the ‘linked devices’ features to spy on encrypted conversations” and warned “that Google has identified Russian hacking groups that are ‘targeting Signal Messenger to spy on persons of interest.’” Additionally, the article noted that a “2023 Defense Department memo prohibited use of mobile applications for even “controlled unclassified information,” which is many degrees less important than information about ongoing military operations.” [NPR, 3/25/25] 
    • Fox national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin: “Current and former defense officials tell me these operational details shared in an unclassified setting would be considered a breach in national security, often resulting in punishment for the servicemember who releases them.” After surveying “a range of current and former US defense officials,” Griffin reported that the information in the chat was classified and “should not be shared through insecure channels.” Additionally, Griffin was told that “what was shared may have been FAR MORE sensitive given the operational details and time stamps ahead of the operation, which could have placed US military pilots in harms way.” [Fox News, America Reports, 3/26/25; Twitter/X, 3/26/25] 
    • The Trump administration has attempted to downplay the breach, with Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe contending that there was no classified information shared in the chat. On March 26, The Atlantic published transcripts showing the Signal messages included explicit details about the U.S. airstrikes hours before they began. A U.S. defense official characterized the messages as “operational plans that are highly classified in order to protect the service members.” President Donald Trump himself downplayed the leak as “really not a big deal,” arguing, “There weren’t details, and there was nothing in there that [was] compromised.” [The Atlantic, 3/26/25; Axios, 3/26/25; The Hill, 3/26/25; CNN, 3/26/25] 
    • Many members of the group chat — including Hegseth, Ratcliffe, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — previously condemned alleged mishandling of classified information from Democrats. In 2016, Hegseth argued that then-FBI Director James Comey “should have prosecuted” Hillary Clinton over her email server “when he had a chance.” Ratcliffe likewise praised the 2018 arrest of a Senate staffer over a leak, saying, “It’s always a good thing we see investigation and prosecution of folks if they're not handling that classified information appropriately.” [Media Matters, 3/25/25]

  • Right-wing media attacked Jeffrey Goldberg calling him a “liar” and suggesting there's a “reason not to trust” him

    • Fox News host and former Trump White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said there is “reason not to trust” Goldberg’s reporting on the group chat, claiming he was “very vague” and she would “like to see hard footnotes” for his article. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 3/25/25] 
    • On Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, MAGA influencer Jack Posobiec claimed Goldberg “has been the center of so many of the psyops that we’ve seen before,” adding, “If you don't think this is a coordinated operation, then you haven't been paying attention to the last eight years.” Posobiec continued “This whole thing stinks.” [Real America's Voice, War Room, 3/25/25] 
    • Townhall’s Kurt Schlichter attacked Goldberg as “a guy with so little credibility that if he told me the sun was coming up in the east I would arise before dawn to confirm it.” Schlichter also argued that “real people don’t care about it.” [Townhall, 3/25/25] 
    • Blaze TV’s Liz Wheeler called Goldberg a “liar” who “hates Trump” and “hates you.” [Twitter/X, 3/26/25] 
    • Real America’s Voice posted: “IS JEFFREY GOLDBERG LYING ABOUT BEING INCLUDED ON THE SIGNAL THREAD?” [Twitter/X, 3/25/25] 
    • The Washington Examiner criticized Goldberg for taking “four days” to leave the Signal group chat, suggesting he was purposefully “waiting that long to try to obtain damaging information that would embarrass the Trump administration.” The piece concluded, “It’s fair to wonder if an anti-Trump editor-in-chief of a major political publication remained stealthy on purpose.” [Washington Examiner, 3/25/25] 
    • Fox host Laura Ingraham categorized Goldberg as “a longtime journalistic adversary of President Trump’s” who “has certainly drawn the ire of conservatives.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 3/24/25]
    • Fox host Jesse Watters asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt if The Atlantic editor-in-chief being added to the chat “could have been something a little more mischievous on Goldberg’s side.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 3/25/25] 
    • Right-wing pundit Benny Johnson: “I really do hope that Goldberg gets charged for possession of national defense information.” Johnson suggested Goldberg was “lurking like a peeping tom in the girl's locker room.” [YouTube, The Benny Show, 3/26/25]

  • Conservative media figures downplayed the gravity of the Signal chat messages, claiming that they “weren’t really war plans” and “nobody died”

    • Right-wing influencer Ian Miles Cheong: “This kerfuffle over the use of Signal by members of the Trump administration is nothing more than a sideshow that will amount to absolutely nothing. The Democrats are grasping at straws.” [Twitter/X, 3/25/25] 
    • Fox News host Sean Hannity claimed that “the state-run legacy media mob” is “obsessed with an accidentally leaked text,” calling it “more feigned phony outrage. This is now the scandal of the week that you will see nonstop, 24/7, that nobody will care about.” [Fox News, Hannity, 3/24/25]
    • Jesse Watters compared the Signal leak to mistakenly sharing “raunchy plans” for a bachelor party with a hypothetical aunt in a group chat. Watters: “Did you ever try to start a group text? You're adding people and you accidentally add the wrong person? All of a sudden your Aunt Mary knows all your raunchy plans for the bachelor party? Well that kind of happened today with the Trump administration.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 3/24/25] 
    • Newsmax host Rob Schmitt dismissed the messages’ seriousness, arguing that they “weren’t really war plans.” He described the messages as “more just a discussion about the Europeans, their response to this, kind of some things about oil prices and stuff like that.” [Newsmax, Rob Schmitt Tonight, 3/24/25] 
    • Fox News anchor John Roberts downplayed the seriousness of the situation, claiming that “there probably are worse people that you could text your secret plans to, but it appears that Goldberg has acted responsibly here in writing this article.” He continued, “National security was compromised from the standpoint that you did invite an outsider who doesn't have top secret security clearance into the group, but nothing else untoward happened.” [Fox News, The Story, 3/24/25] 
    • Watters: “Nobody died except for terrorists.” Watters added, “It didn't look like anybody was two-faced on the text. Everybody was professional, thoughtful, America first.” [Fox News, The Five, 3/25/25]
    • Fox & Friends co-host Lawrence Jones attempted to spin the story, claiming “it looks like Goldberg overpromised. There’s not war plans in it.” He continued, “This is probably sensitive information, but I'm not sure this is classified.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 3/26/25]
    • Newsmax’s Rob Finnerty: “Nothing's going to happen. Nobody's going to get fired. Michael Waltz is not going to lose his job because, and this is important, no one on the right cares because nothing happened.” He argued, “The left needs this to be a crisis, and that's really important.” [Newsmax, Finnerty, 3/25/25]
    • Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk posted “What’s worse: A Signal chat, or letting millions of foreigners over the border, then sheltering criminals and gang members in flagrant defiance of federal law?” He added: “You are being subjected to propaganda: The people who led America into one disaster after another are trying to convince you a relatively mild embarrassment is the worst scandal ever.” [Twitter/X, 3/25/25]
    • Right-wing influencer Phillip Buchanan, known online as “Catturd": “The Democrat party who just let in 15 million illegals in 4 years into our country including, child traffickers, gang members, murderers, and rapists want you to know they’re really worried about a leak to the Atlantic where nothing happened.” [Twitter/X, 3/25/25; Daily Dot, 11/17/23]
    • Fox host Greg Gutfeld complained that “this is all they have,” declaring: “I don't care how many specifics there are. … Count me out. You have lost my interest in this story.” [Fox News, The Five, 3/25/25] 

  • Others denied that the messages included classified information and claimed that “none of this put national security at risk”

    • Sean Hannity called the leak “an honest mistake” and claimed “there was no classified information in the discussion.” [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show,3/25/25] 
    • Hannity argued that the “distinction between sensitive and top secret classification information is very critical because we're dealing with sensitive information. The administration has reiterated no classified material was discussed, and, more importantly, the mission was operationally a complete success.” [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 3/26/25] 
    • Newsmax host Chris Plante declared the chat “contained no classified information.” [Newsmax, Chris Plante: The Right Squad, 3/25/25] 
    • Right-wing activist Ned Ryun claimed “there was no classified information, there were no war plans being shared.” Ryun claimed, “The story to me is how did Goldberg, the known Trump hater, get into this chat.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 3/25/25] 
    • Right-wing influencer Alexander Muse, known online as “Amuse,” criticized the media for “breathlessly covering the Signal story despite no classified information being disclosed.” [Twitter/X, 3/26/25; The Guardian, 8/26/24] 
    • Ian Miles Cheong posted “Pop quiz hotshot. If the information in the Signal chat was classified then why isn’t Jeffrey Goldberg in prison for leaking classified information?” [Twitter/X, 3/26/25] 
    • Laura Ingraham: “It's abundantly clear that none of this put national security at risk.” Ingraham claimed “there was no risk to our troops and the entire world is safer because of the actions that our troops took. Now, some of us are actually happier about that; others are rooting for the United States to fail.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 3/26/25] 

  • Some right-wing media figures spread conspiracy theories suggesting the messages were “intentional” or “staged”

    • Jesse Watters suggested Goldberg “sneaked his way in” to the war plans Signal chat. He said, “Journalists like Goldberg will sometimes send out fake names with a contact with their cells to deceive politicians.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 3/25/25] 
    • War Room host Steve Bannon noted that a public watchdog group sued Hegseth and others over the chat and the case was assigned to Judge James Boasberg, saying,  “This is a pincer move between the deep state and the judicial insurrection.” [HuffPost, 3/25/25; Real America’s Voice, War Room, 3/26/25]
    • White nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes, said of the chat: “You wonder: Was it staged? … Was this, in other words, some sort of a performance?” [Media Matters, 1/16/24; Rumble, America First with Nick Fuentes, 3/24/25] 
    • Fuentes also said, “I almost wonder if the messages were leaked to make Vance look good” or “to make Mike Waltz look bad,” noting that he was speculating. [Rumble, America First with Nick Fuentes, 3/24/25] 
    • Right-wing YouTuber Tim Pool suggested the Trump administration “intentionally” included Goldberg “so that he would report their words behind the scenes, which, I got to be honest, makes them look kind of good.” Pool continued, “It really sounds like a PR message distilled through a moron who thinks he got leaked information so the American people think they’re getting a genuine behind-the-scenes look at the difficult decision to bomb Yemen.” [YouTube, Timcast IRL, 3/25/25]
    • Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler claimed he believes the messages were “intentional” and praised the Trump administration for using Goldberg “as a rube.” Meckler further claimed that “Europe is going to take a very strong message from this, and I think it's just as likely that this was intentional.” [Victory Channel, Flashpoint, 3/24/25] 
    • Benny Johnson called the scandal “another psyop” and “another Russiagate-level op against the Trump administration.” [YouTube, The Benny Show, 3/25/25] 
    • Johnson said: “They have to stop him at all costs, including, maybe, using a backdoor splinter cell group inside the CIA to surreptitiously and illegally add a journalist, the worst possible journalist on earth, to add to this chat to sneak him in there so he could spy on Trump.” [YouTube, The Benny Show, 3/26/25]
    • Newsmax host Greg Kelly: “I think all of these guys were kind of the victim of a cyber crime perpetrated by the Biden administration.” [Newsmax, Greg Kelly Reports, 3/26/25]
    • Fox & Friends co-host Carley Shimkus suggested that Mike Waltz might be “the victim” because somebody could have “put Jeffrey Goldberg's phone number under somebody else's name in his phone.” Shimkus explained, “I am not convinced that this was even a mistake by Mike Waltz, because when he spoke to Laura Ingraham, he seemed as confused as anybody else, and I believe him.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 3/27/25]

  • Right-wing media attempted to argue that the messages demonstrate “a real administration working”

    • Fox host Will Cain argued the “bigger takeaway” about the messages was the “insight, a transparent insight, into the thought process and dialog of our national leaders.” Cain praised the members of the Trump administration in the group chat for engaging “in a very collaborative, open, honest, team-based attempt to come to the right decision.” [Fox News, The Will Cain Show, 3/24/25] 
    • Rumble host Vince Coglianese said it was “wonderful that this got published” because “it sends a really clear message to Europe that we are not playing around.” Coglianese continued, “It’s JD Vance straight-up saying it in planning conversations that he never thinks are going to go public, that we are tired of them being freeloaders.” [Rumble, Vince with Vince Coglianese, 3/25/25] 
    • Greg Gutfeld said the texts were evidence of “how winners live their lives.” Gutfeld: “When you have the highest possible goal, your aim, and you choose to act on that aim, you incur a risk for error.” [Fox News, The Five, 3/25/25]
    • The Five co-host Jeanine Pirro suggested that “Americans should be comforted” by the leak because “we are seeing transparency.” [Fox News, The Five, 3/25/25]
    • Daily Wire host Michael Knowles argued that the Signal chat “just highlights how much better this administration is at conducting foreign policy than the previous Democrat administrations.” [The Daily Wire, The Michael Knowles Show, 3/26/25] 
    • Infowars host Alex Jones argued the texts show “a real administration working” and suggested “the CIA can go into any of these text apps … and plant whatever they want, spoof, pretend that they're you.” Jones also claimed Goldberg was “probably a Mossad operative” and described The Atlantic as a “beyond Epstein-connected publication.” [Infowars, The Alex Jones Show, 3/25/25] 
    • On Hannity, Charlie Kirk claimed Trump’s advisers in the chat “were actually defending president Trump’s agenda in private the same way they’ve been doing it in public.” He said, “It’s an accident, however it does show a window to the American people that in private, they’re doing the same thing that they’re saying on television. It shows integrity, it shows symmetry, it shows consistency.” [Fox News, Hannity, 3/25/25] 
    • Kirk wrote: “The real scandal would have been if we discovered JD Vance, Pete Hegseth, etc. were saying one thing to voters in public while completely contradicting themselves in private. Instead, we have clear symmetry and consistency of messaging and ideology. We know these men actually believe what they're saying in public.” [Twitter/X, 3/25/25]