President Donald Trump is standing by Mike Waltz in the aftermath the national security adviser's snafu of adding a magazine editor to a group chat about plans for military action, telling NBC News that Waltz "learned a lesson."
Trump made the comments in a phone interview on Tuesday, hours after Politico reported that Waltz might get forced out as NSA.
"Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he's a good man," Trump told NBC News.
Trump's comments came around the same time that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post to X that the "President continues to have confidence in his national security team, including Mike Waltz."
"Stories claiming otherwise are driven by anonymous sources who clearly do not speak to the President, and written by reporters who are thirsty for a 'scoop,'" Leavitt added, ostensibly referencing Politico's story from late Monday night.
In an article released Monday, Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg wrote that on March 11 he received a "connection request" on the Signal app from Waltz, which he accepted, thinking that Waltz "wanted to chat about Ukraine, or Iran, or some other important matter."
According to Goldberg, Vice President J.D. Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Waltz used the group chat to discuss possible military action in Yemen against the Houthis, the terrorist group responsible for attacks on shipping lanes in the region. Goldberg noted that one post from Hegseth "contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing."
Leavitt said, "No war plans were discussed," and "2. No classified material was sent to the thread."
Trump told NBC News it was "the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one," explaining how Goldberg was accidentally added to the message thread.
"It was one of Michael's people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there," Trump said.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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