President Donald Trump downplayed a new report from The Atlantic on Wednesday, calling it “not a big deal” while also shifting the blame for the Yemen attack to former President Joe Biden.
Trump made the remarks during an appearance on The Vince Show, a podcast hosted by right-wing commentator Vince Coglianese. The new report revealed messages from a Signal group chat among Trump’s national security team, discussing the timing of an airstrike on Houthi rebels.
“There weren’t details, and there was nothing in there that compromised. And it had no impact on the attack, which was very successful,” Trump said, minimizing the significance of the leaked messages.
He then redirected the conversation, blaming Biden for failing to carry out the attack during his presidency.
“It’s an attack that Biden should have carried out three years ago, but he didn’t because it would have been much easier back then,” Trump said, implying that if Biden had handled it, his administration wouldn’t be dealing with the current scandal.
Trump also addressed the mistake involving The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, who was mistakenly included in the group chat. “Maybe Goldberg found a way,” Trump speculated. “Maybe there’s a staffer, maybe there’s a very innocent staffer, but we’ll get — I think we’ll get to the bottom of it very quickly, and it’s really not a big deal.”
In response to Trump’s comment, national security adviser Mike Waltz appeared on Fox News to clarify the situation. Waltz rejected the idea that a staffer was to blame for Goldberg’s inclusion in the chat. “Well, look, a staffer wasn’t responsible,” Waltz told Laura Ingraham. “I take full responsibility. I built the group to make sure everything’s coordinated.”
On Wednesday morning, The Atlantic published the full set of messages from the Signal group chat, offering more details about the airstrike in Yemen. The messages, which were not previously included in the original report, showed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth providing a timeline for the attack and specifying the weapons to be used.
Goldberg and journalist Shane Harris, in their follow-up article, stated that the release of these texts should allow readers to make their own judgment about the situation.
Listen to Trump’s comments in the clip below:
Donald Trump: There were no detailed war plans in the group chat… It's really not a big deal.
What you think?
pic.twitter.com/MfKnHpeMP4— Lucas Sanders 💙🗳️🌊💪🌈🚺🟧 (@LucasSa56947288) March 26, 2025
