Inside the bizarre White House Signal slip that nearly got Mike Waltz fired

Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg was 'accidentally' added to a White House Signal group discussing potential Yemen strikes due to a contact mix-up involving NSA Mike Waltz

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz ‘accidentally’ included a journalist in a private Signal group discussing potential military strikes in Yemen, after mistakenly saving the journalist’s number months earlier, The Guardian reported. 

The number belonged to Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of The Atlantic. Waltz had believed the number was for someone else, saving it during Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign. The mix-up was among several lapses identified in an internal White House probe.

 

Trump weighed firing, but held back

US President Donald Trump had initially planned to remove Waltz over the incident, but later changed his mind. According to The Guardian, Trump’s primary concern was not that military planning had been discussed on an unsecured platform, but that Goldberg’s number was saved in Waltz’s phone. 

Ultimately, Trump decided against firing Waltz, reportedly to avoid giving Goldberg — or the media — the impression that they had provoked a major staffing shakeup early in his second term. The findings of a White House review also helped allay his concerns.

 

 

Trump was fully briefed on the review before opting to support Waltz. In a visible show of that support, Waltz was seen accompanying Trump aboard Marine One last week, along with chief of staff Susie Wiles and personnel chief Sergio Gor.

 

Some aides also defended the use of Signal, saying it had been authorised during the transition period due to the lack of a better real-time cross-agency messaging platform, the report added.

 

Chain of events traced to 2023 campaign email

The White House IT team launched a forensic review after the incident, which traced the mix-up to an email exchange in October 2023. At the time, Goldberg had contacted Trump’s campaign with questions about a story critical of Trump’s handling of wounded veterans. 

Waltz was tasked with responding, and his reply was forwarded to campaign spokesperson Brian Hughes. Hughes included Goldberg’s contact information in the message to Waltz. Investigators believe this caused Goldberg’s number to be saved under Hughes’s contact card. 

Though Waltz never directly contacted Goldberg, sources familiar with the investigation said Goldberg’s number was saved by accident. Hughes now serves as the spokesperson for the National Security Council.

 

‘Contact suggestion update’ caused merge

The White House stated that the error occurred during a “contact suggestion update” on Waltz’s iPhone, a feature that merges contact details based on perceived connections. This caused Goldberg’s number to be incorrectly linked to Hughes’s profile. 

The mistake remained unnoticed until March 13, when Waltz added what he thought was Hughes to a Signal group named ‘Houthi PC small group’. Instead, he added Goldberg. The group was involved in discussions around possible US strikes on the Houthis in Yemen.

 

Waltz denies direct contact with journalist

After the incident, Waltz maintained he had never spoken with Goldberg. “The number had been ‘sucked’ into my phone,” he told Fox News, suggesting the merge happened automatically. The White House did not comment, and the internal probe could not confirm any personal connection between Waltz and Goldberg. 

When contacted, Goldberg said, “I’m not going to comment on my relationship with Mike Waltz beyond saying I do know him and have spoken to him.”

 

Trump shows support amid fallout

Trump received a full briefing on the review before choosing to back Waltz. Last week, when Trump left the White House aboard Marine One, Waltz accompanied him along with chief of staff Susie Wiles and personnel chief Sergio Gor — a move aides saw as a show of support. 

Some within Trump’s team also defended the use of Signal, noting it had been authorised due to the lack of a better real-time cross-agency messaging tool during the transition, the news report said.