President Trump said Monday he knew nothing of a report by a journalist for The Atlantic who says he was swept up in a text message chain with defense and national security officials while they detailed plans for an attack on Houthi rebels.
Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic, wrote earlier Monday that he was invited to a group chat on Signal in which top officials debated and then discussed details of attacks in Yemen earlier this month. Goldberg said he realized the chat was authentic when the plan came to fruition with those same details.
Trump was asked about the report during an event with Louisiana officials at the White House shortly after it surfaced. The president maintained he was no fan of the publication and said he had no knowledge of the editor being accidentally included in the chain.
“I don’t know anything about it. I’m not a big fan of The Atlantic; to me it’s a magazine that is going out of business,” Trump said. “I know nothing about it. You’re saying that they had what?”
A reporter responded that Trump officials were using Signal to coordinate on sensitive material and when Trump questioned “having to do with what?” the reporter said, “the Houthis.” Trump replied, “You mean the attack on the Houthis?”
“Well, 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,” Trump added.
