White House in turmoil: Top secret chat leaks Yemen plans
Steven Witkoff, a special advisor to Donald Trump on Middle Eastern affairs, was in Moscow when the Signal chat was created, notes Yaroslav Trofimov, a journalist for "The Wall Street Journal." This discussion group focused on a planned attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen.
What do you need to know?
- Steven Witkoff, a special advisor to Donald Trump on Middle Eastern affairs, participated in a Signal chat about the attack on Houthi rebels while in Moscow.
- Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of "The Atlantic," accidentally joined the chat where details of the military operation in Yemen were disclosed.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth questioned the publication's authenticity, though a National Security Council spokesperson confirmed its accuracy.
The editor-in-chief of "The Atlantic," Jeffrey Goldberg, reported on Monday that he was inadvertently invited to a group chat involving top White House officials regarding the operation against Houthi rebels in Yemen. During the discussion, the head of the Pentagon shared operational plans for the country.
Goldberg was able to observe the discussion among top administration officials about the planned strike on Yemeni rebel targets for several days. Two hours before the military operation, he received its detailed plan and subsequently information about its outcomes.
"The information contained in them, if they had been read by an adversary of the United States, could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East, Central Command’s area of responsibility. What I will say, in order to illustrate the shocking recklessness of this Signal conversation, is that the Hegseth post contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing," wrote Goldberg.
White House scandal: Witkoff was in Moscow at the time
As it turns out, one of the chat participants, Steven Witkoff, a special advisor to Donald Trump on Middle Eastern affairs, was in Moscow at the time of its creation, where he met, among others, with Vladimir Putin.
This was highlighted by Yaroslav Trofimov, a journalist for "The Wall Street Journal."
The authenticity of the publication was questioned by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Earlier, a National Security Council spokesperson confirmed the accuracy of the information revealed by "The Atlantic."
"Nobody was texting war plans. And that's all I have to say about that. Thank you. I appreciate it," said Hegseth during a brief statement after landing in Hawaii.
"You are talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who has made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again," said Hegseth.
"The Secretary of Defense seems like a person who is unserious and is trying to deflect from the fact that he participated in a conversation on an unclassified messaging app that he probably shouldn’t have participated in," responded Goldberg in an interview with MSNBC.
