Here’s a tip for reporters who want to jump all over the Signal text mistake that Trump administration officials have owned up to: Get basic facts right.
As a brief review, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg — a fierce Trump critic — broke the story Monday that he was inadvertently brought into a Signal text chain that included Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Vice President J.D. Vance, among others. Signal is an encrypted phone app.
Earlier this month, the national security officials traded messages regarding a then-upcoming military operation in Yemen against the Houthis, which took place on March 15.
Politico’s Jack Blanchard in the outlet’s morning “Playbook” newsletter originally wrote on Tuesday, “Hegseth (to his relief) is out of the country, and heads from Hawaii to Guam today…”
Imo @politico should have someone write their morning newsletter who has a surface level understanding of the geography of the country he’s reporting on pic.twitter.com/JN2X8UQv8C
— Eoin Higgins (@EoinHiggins_) March 25, 2025
Politico has since updated the newsletter, noting, “Hegseth (to his relief) is far away from Washington, and heads from Hawaii to Guam today.”
Why the change? Because Hawaii and Guam are both part of the United States. Hawaii was admitted as the 50th state in 1959 when Dwight Eisenhower was president. Hawaii and Guam both became U.S. territories in 1898.
These are both pretty longstanding matters of which certainly, in the case of Hawaii at least, Blanchard should have been aware.
Do you think he just made a mistake, or does he really not know Hawaii and Guam are both part of the US?
In other words, Politico made a mistake covering a mistake made by some Trump administration officials.
When asked in Hawaii on Monday about the Signal snafu, Hegseth refuted Goldberg’s claims that war plans were revealed.
“Nobody was texting war plans,” Hegseth responded.
HEGSETH: “Nobody was texting war plans & that’s all I have to say about that.” pic.twitter.com/3VtX1zHOXe
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 24, 2025
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated this point in a Tuesday post on X, writing that no war plans were discussed, nor was classified material shared.
Jeffrey Goldberg is well-known for his sensationalist spin. Here are the facts about his latest story:
1. No “war plans” were discussed.
2. No classified material was sent to the thread.
3. The White House Counsel’s Office has provided guidance on a number of different…
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) March 25, 2025
In testimony before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, Gabbard confirmed there no sources, locations, targets, routes, or units were disclosed.
Any operation plan would include this type of information, so she said clearly that no war plans were released.
There were no sources, no locations, no targets, no routes, and no units described in the Signal chats. These were not “war plans.” It was just a clear-eyed discussion of American strategy and national security interests by our leaders, who completely succeeded in their mission.… pic.twitter.com/0xOxvhFV0e
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) March 26, 2025
Also testifying before the committee, Ratcliffe called out Goldberg for falsely suggesting that he transmitted classified information and the name of an “undercover CIA operative” in the Signal chat.
“In fact, I released the name of my chief of staff who is not operating undercover,” he said. “That was deliberately false and misleading.”
CIA Director John Ratcliffe just destroyed The Atlantic for blatantly making things up.
“The reporter indicated that I had released the name of another country – of an undercover CIA operative.”
“In fact, I released the name of my chief of staff who is not operating… pic.twitter.com/jOEmj3KCQ2
— Media Lies (@MediasLies) March 26, 2025
Ratcliffe further noted that the air strikes against the Houthis were a success, with no American casualties, which is the main issue at hand.
Trump characterized the whole situation regarding Goldberg being included in the text chain as “the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one.”
The so-called Signalgate has filled three news cycles, but because the Trump administration has been forthright, it will soon be played out.
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