Trump Admin Says Leaked Group Chat 'Did Not Use Classified Info' as Atlantic Reporter Disagrees

President Trump says he accepts his staff's explanation of how Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, joined the Signal chat group that was planning airstrikes against terrorists in Yemen.

"What it was, we believe, is somebody that was on the line with permission; somebody that was with Mike Waltz – worked for Mike Waltz at a lower level – had, I guess, Goldberg's number or called through the app, and somehow this guy ended up on the call," Trump told Newsmax.

During a cabinet meeting earlier in the day, the president defended Waltz, his national security advisor, and said he didn't need to apologize for inadvertently adding the reporter to the encrypted chat.

"He's a very good man, and he will continue to do a good job," the president said Tuesday.

Waltz took responsibility for the leak.

"I take responsibility, I built the group," Waltz told Fox News' Laura Ingraham show. "We're going to get to the bottom of it. We have, I just talked to Elon (Musk) on the way here. We've got the best technical minds looking at how this happened."

Goldberg revealed he was added to the chat, which included Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and 15 other senior officials.

"It seemed completely absurd to me that the national security leadership for the United States would be meeting, you know, on a messaging app to discuss forthcoming military action," Goldberg said.

Two individuals involved in the chat, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, were grilled Tuesday at a Senate intelligence hearing.

"I want to make clear that I'm of the view that there ought to be resignations," demanded Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) during Tuesday's hearing.

"This sloppiness, this incompetence, this disrespect for our intelligence agencies and the personnel who work for them, is entirely unacceptable. It's an embarrassment," added Sen. Michael Bennett (D-CO).

The CIA director pushed back against the criticism.

"My communications, to be clear, in a Signal message group, were entirely permissible and lawful and did not use classified info," claimed Ratcliffe.

"There's a difference between inadvertent release versus careless and sloppy malicious leaks of classified information," added DNI Tulsi Gabbard.

Goldberg said some of the information was so sensitive that his outlet decided it should not be published.

"Let's be clear, this was a discussion on an unclassified messaging app about weapons, targets, and timing of future attacks. That is fundamentally classified and should have never been discussed on an unclassified app. Why? Because that info can be used by our adversaries to kill U.S. service members or make their mission less effective. Full stop. Bottom line," Brad Bowman, with the D.C.-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told CBN's Faith Nation.

This incident raises concerns among national security experts about security protocols and the proper channels for discussing sensitive topics, especially in the digital age.