Quotes
The whole thing is just very flummoxing to me, because I haven’t seen this kind of unserious behavior before,
Goldberg told MSNBC’s Jen Psaki
Nobody was texting war plans,
Hegseth said, looking straight into the camera after landing in Hawaii for an official tripFrom an operational security perspective, this is the highest level of f***-up imaginable. These people cannot keep America safe,
said former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg
I'm not sure it requires any particular attention,
he said, ... according to the New York TimesAt this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic,
Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said in a statement to multiple outlets
Oh for God's sake, the administration has already confirmed the authenticity of the message,
Brit Hume wrote in a frustrated X post Monday eveningApparently, an inadvertent phone number made it onto that thread. They’re going to track that down and make sure that it doesn’t happen again
Johnson told reporters, as per CBS NewsWe are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain.”
He continuedThis appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain. The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to troops or national security."
Brian Hughes, a spokesperson for the NSC, confirmed the veracity of the Signal group text to Goldberg
We can't read your messages or listen to your calls, and no one else can either, ... privacy isn't an optional mode — it's just the way that Signal works."
the website saysWell, it couldn't have been very effective because the attack was very effective, I can tell you that. I don't know anything about it. You're telling me about it for the first time."
When a reporter elaborated on the details of Goldberg's reporting, Trump said
There is no world in which this information should have been shared in non-secure channels. Hegseth is in so far over his head that he is a danger to this country and our men and women in uniform."
Similarly, Democratic Massachusetts Representative Seth Moulton, a Marine veteran, wrote on XI don't know anything about it. I'm not a big fan of The Atlantic. To me, it's a magazine that's going out of business. But I know nothing about it. You're saying that they had what?"
Trump responded to Goldberg's article on Monday afternoon, telling reporters
I couldn't imagine anybody would use Signal,
he told CNN's Kasie Hunt on the show The ArenaHow can you conduct official government business over a nonofficial channel? Maybe there's some in extremis situation, when you're—you're on Samoa or something, and there aren't any official channels. But ... they were, they were in Washington, probably in their offices."
He continuedYou know, some of the guests have commented that Signal's highly encrypted, ... I'll just say this, if you think Signal is equivalent to U.S. government secure telecommunications, think again."
he added
I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now.”
Vance appeared to disagree with Trump's wisdom on the strikes, noting
Our current secretary of Defense hadn’t shown a lot of evidence of running a large organization or, let alone running a large organization well, and he got put in charge of the largest organization in the United States of America and the most important organization in the world – which is the U.S. Department of Defense,
he told CollinsAnd, if there’s no accountability for a screw-up like this, especially from a president who used to fire people every day on television for sport, what are we even doing here?”
he added
We can't have someone in the Oval Office who doesn't understand the meaning of the word confidential or classified,
Trump said during that campaign – one of many attacks on Clinton for what he said was a clear violation of federal law