It was a blunder of Shakespearean proportions—an unsecured group chat, an explosive revelation, and the last journalist anyone in Trump’s national security team would want to see those messages. Yet, it happened. The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, found himself inadvertently added to a high-level government group chat discussing military operations in the Middle East.
The Accidental Leak That Shocked Washington
Goldberg, a seasoned journalist with deep foreign policy experience, was mistakenly included in a Signal chat titled “Houthi PC Small Group.” Initially skeptical, he assumed it was a hoax or part of a disinformation campaign—until real-world military actions lined up precisely with the discussions in the chat. The messages detailed sensitive military strategies against the Iran-backed Houthi group, which had been disrupting shipping traffic in the Suez Canal.
This was no ordinary chat. Among the 18 members were some of the most powerful figures in U.S. national security: National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. Goldberg had no idea why he was there. But there he was, reading what appeared to be classified discussions about upcoming military strikes.
And then, on March 15, those exact plans materialized into reality, with an airstrike that killed 53 people. That’s when Goldberg realized the messages weren’t fake.
A Journalist No Stranger to Controversy
If you were to pick the last person Trump’s team would want privy to national security discussions, Jeffrey Goldberg would likely top the list. His career is a testament to hard-hitting journalism, with bylines in The Washington Post, New York Magazine, and The New York Times Magazine, covering some of the world’s most volatile regions. By 2000, he was a staff writer at The New Yorker, earning prestigious awards for his foreign reporting. In 2007, he joined The Atlantic, and by October 2016, he was its editor-in-chief.
And that’s where his long, fraught history with Donald Trump began.
Just days before assuming his role at The Atlantic, the magazine made only its third presidential endorsement in 160 years, throwing its weight behind Hillary Clinton. The publication didn’t hold back, labeling Trump “the most ostentatiously unqualified major-party candidate in the 227-year history of the American presidency.”
Trump never forgave Goldberg.
The Trump-Goldberg Feud
Goldberg’s reporting on Trump has been relentless. In 2020, he broke one of the most controversial stories of Trump’s presidency: claims that the former president referred to fallen U.S. soldiers as “suckers” and “losers.” The backlash was swift and severe, forcing Goldberg to temporarily relocate his family due to safety threats.
Trump’s team denied the allegations, but the story gained credibility when John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, later confirmed it on the record. And as Trump refused to concede the 2020 election, leading to the January 6 Capitol riots and subsequent criminal charges, Goldberg’s criticism only escalated.
By December 2023, he made his stance unmistakable, stating in a CNN interview: “I refuse to participate in the normalization of Donald Trump. A second Trump term poses a threat to the existence of America as we know it.”
His warning wasn’t just talk. Shortly after, The Atlantic released a special issue ominously titled “If Trump Wins.” It detailed how a second Trump presidency could unfold—punishing political enemies, withdrawing from NATO, dismantling immigration policies, and halting scientific research.
The feud intensified again in October 2024 when Goldberg published yet another bombshell: Trump had allegedly complained about the costs of a murdered soldier’s funeral, dismissing the servicemember as a “f---ing Mexican.”
Trump’s Reaction to the Group Chat Leak
Unsurprisingly, Trump had little patience for Goldberg’s latest revelations. Reacting to the accidental group chat fiasco, he dismissed it outright, saying, “I’m not a big fan of The Atlantic. To me, it’s a magazine that’s going out of business.”
Other officials scrambled to explain the blunder. National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes told Fox News, “This appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain.” Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth went on the offensive, calling Goldberg “a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who peddles hoaxes.”
But the burning question remains: How did Jeffrey Goldberg, of all people, get added to a classified government chat?
-
Was it a case of mistaken identity?
-
Could it have been another Jeffrey Goldberg—perhaps the Fox News producer of the same name?
-
Or was it an eerie twist of fate, a political Freudian slip of the highest order?
The Fallout and Unanswered Questions
Regardless of how it happened, the damage is done. The leak has left Washington in damage control mode, raising serious concerns about the security of government communications. It’s also reignited the bitter animosity between Trump and one of his most tenacious journalistic critics.
If history has shown us anything, it’s that this saga is far from over. And as Trump campaigns for a return to the White House, Goldberg’s investigative eye will likely remain fixed on him—perhaps with even greater intensity than before.
Login