Trump Announces No One Will Be Fired in Response to Signal Chat Group Leak
“I don’t fire people because of fake news and witch hunts,” Trump stated.
On March 29, President Donald Trump announced that he had no plans to dismiss anyone from his Cabinet following an incident in which a journalist was unintentionally included in a Signal group chat about his administration’s airstrike strategy against the Houthis in Yemen.
On March 13, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz mistakenly added Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, to a Signal group chat titled “Houthi PC small group,” which consisted of officials discussing the airstrike. Signal serves as an encrypted messaging platform.
Initially, the seasoned national security and foreign affairs journalist questioned the legitimacy of the chat, discussing with colleagues whether the messages were “part of a disinformation campaign, possibly initiated by a foreign intelligence agency or more likely, a media organization attempting to discredit journalists.”
Following the breach, the National Security Council issued a statement validating the chat’s authenticity.
“Currently, the message thread reported appears to be authentic, and we are investigating how an unintended number was added to the conversation,” the statement indicated.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had elaborated on the strike’s strategies in the chat. The Atlantic later published an article regarding the group chat.
Trump confirmed his confidence in both Waltz and Hegseth during the interview, responding “I do” when asked about it.
“I believe this is merely a witch hunt, and the fake media, like you, often expresses it, but it’s a witch hunt that should not dominate discussions,” he stated. “We executed a highly successful strike. It was forceful and lethal. Yet, all the focus is on meaningless chatter. It’s fake news.”
During a press briefing on March 26, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated Trump’s support for his national security team.
“What I can definitively say is that I just spoke with the president, and he continues to have faith in his national security team,” she mentioned.
In his phone interview on Saturday, Trump remarked that he had “no idea what Signal is” and didn’t “care to know what Signal is.”
“What I can tell you is, it’s just a witch hunt, and that’s all the press wants to discuss because you have no other stories. This has been the most successful 100-day presidency in our nation’s history,” he claimed.
The Epoch Times has formally requested a complete transcript of the call from NBC.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
