National security adviser Waltz owns group chat blunder

Mike Waltz said on social media Wednesday that no war plans were shared in a chat about upcoming strikes on Houthi terrorists in Yemen. Waltz the day before told Fox News that he accidentally added a journalist to the chat. The breach was completely his fault, he said, but no one discussed any classified information in the 18-member Signal group. His comments came after Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, on Monday revealed that he’d been privy to discussions between top national security officials and detailed airstrike plans.

Is Waltz getting fired? President Donald Trump told Fox that Waltz would keep his job. He downplayed the incident as a glitch. The president also said Waltz would not be using the Signal messaging app again in the near future.

What did Waltz think about The Atlantic story? He disparaged Goldberg’s reporting, saying the journalist had a horrible reputation and hated Trump. Waltz had not saved Goldberg’s information on his phone and was unsure how the mistake occurred. He intended to add someone else to the chat, he said.

How did The Atlantic respond? The magazine on Wednesday released more details of texts sent to the group, challenging claims from Waltz and the White House that the chat didn’t include classified information or war plans. The texts included the exact timing of attacks and specified weapons to be used in each stage, according to The Atlantic’s new report.

The magazine also released a Tuesday statement saying attempts to discredit its reporting indicated hostility to journalists and Americans’ right to free speech under the First Amendment.

Dig deeper: Read my Tuesday report on how officials responded to the group chat breach.