The future of White House national security adviser Mike Waltz is in doubt after he purportedly invited the editor of The Atlantic magazine into a group thread about Middle East war plans by accident, Politico reported Monday.
White House officials told Politico that President Donald Trump would ultimately make the final decision. Trump and Waltz spoke about the imbroglio on Monday, according to the report. There's also speculation within the West Wing that Waltz will resign, according to Politico.
"Half of them saying he's never going to survive or shouldn't survive," Politico quoted one official.
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."
"It was reckless not to check who was on the thread. It was reckless to be having that conversation on Signal. You can't have recklessness as the national security adviser," Politico quoted a WH official.
However, Politico also reported that Trump might be just as upset with Hegseth for purportedly sharing plans on the app in the first place.
For his part, Hegseth rebutted the report and took aim at Goldberg instead.
"Nobody was texting war plans, and that's all I have to say about that," Hegseth told reporters after landing in Hawaii on Monday. "So this is the guy that peddles in garbage. This is what he does."
The National Security Council, however, said the message thread "appears to be authentic."
In a statement late Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president still has the "utmost confidence" in Waltz and the national security team.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., agreed, telling Politico that Waltz should "absolutely not" resign.
But Hegseth aside, congressional Republicans are operating from a "what do we do about it" vs. "did it happen?" standpoint.
"It was clearly a screwup. It was obvious that including Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertent and that was a mess and an embarrassing mess," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told ABC News. "But … immediately the Trump White House took responsibility. They said this was genuine, this was the real exchange, and it was a mistake. And that taking responsibility, that was the right thing to do."
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters Monday, "We're very concerned about it, and we'll be looking into it on a bipartisan basis."
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he wants to learn more about what happened.
"Obviously, we got to run it to the ground, figure out what went on there," Thune said.
Newsmax reached out to the White House for comment.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.