Several senior Trump administration leaders unintentionally added Jeffrey Goldberg to their classified Signal group about Yemen military operations against Houthi militants while he served as The Atlantic's editor-in-chief. Goldberg exposed the incident through his article "The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans" where he showed the group included senior figures including Vice President J.D. Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.
The formation of "Houthi small group" served to organize immediate airstrikes that sought to protect Red Sea navigation and defend against the Houthi warriors backed by Iran. Within the chat members exchanged operational plans as well as target information and weapon specification details. The intentional error by Goldberg revealed contradictory viewpoints between the administration especially between Vice President Vance who expressed doubts about launching the attacks at that time because it could result in higher oil prices.
The released chat has resulted in intensive bipartisan anger and demands for officials to investigate how they manage classified information. The House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries denounced the situation because he saw it as a dangerous abuse of power that demanded congressional examination. Roger Wicker as the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee displayed complete concern about the situation while urging both parties to conduct a cross-partisan investigation.
Defense Secretary Hegseth rejected proposed war plans while using "deceitful and highly discredited" as his critique of Goldberg's statements. The National Security Council verified the realness of the messages as they carry out an internal assessment about the consequences of the security breach. President Trump's White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reported to the media that Trump fully supports his national security team which includes Advisor Mike Waltz.