White House officials on Wednesday defended Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff’s conduct after a Wall Street Journal editorial board raised concerns about his inclusion in a group chat to discuss an attack on Houthi rebels while he was in Russia.
Both Witkoff and press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back against an opinion piece from the Journal in which the editorial board called it a “real security scandal” that Witkoff was included in a chat on the Signal app while on a trip to Moscow to meet with Russian officials.
“This is security malpractice,” the Journal wrote. “Russian intelligence services must be listening to Mr. Witkoff’s every eyebrow flutter. This adds to the building perception that Mr. Witkoff, the President’s friend from New York, is out of his depth in dealing with world crises.”
Leavitt said in a post on X that Witkoff had been provided “a secure line of communication by the U.S. Government, and it was the only phone he had in his possession while in Moscow.”
Witkoff, in a post of his own on X, said he was “incredulous” that the Journal had not checked with him about whether he had any personal devices with him during his trip to Moscow.
“If they had, they would have known the truth. Which is, I only had with me a secure phone provided by the government for special circumstances when you travel to regions where you do not want your devices compromised,” Witkoff posted.
“Maybe it is time for media outlets like the Journal to acknowledge when some of their people make serious reporting mistakes like this,” he added.
Witkoff was one of several administration officials included in a group chat on Signal to discuss plans for an attack on Houthi rebels. Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was inadvertently added to the group message.
The Atlantic on Wednesday published messages from the chat, which offered details on its original report on Goldberg’s inclusion did not contain, including the specific timeline of the airstrike and what weapons would be used.
“There is a clear public interest in disclosing the sort of information that Trump advisers included in nonsecure communications channels, especially because senior administration figures are attempting to downplay the significance of the messages that were shared,” the journalists from The Atlantic said.
