Atlantic journalist pushes back on Hegseth comments: ‘He was texting war plans’

Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg has pushed back comments from Defense Secretary Pete Hegses on journalists' access to group chats with information about attacks on Hooty rebels from top Trump administration officials.

When asked about access to Goldberg's chat, Hegses told reporters Monday, “No one had texted the war plan. That's all I have to say.”

Kaitlan Collins of CNN pointed to comments from Hegseth in an interview with Goldberg on Monday night.

“I want to start by getting your response to what we hear from Secretary Hegses. Given that you knew this group chat, how did you see it?” Collins asked.

“No, that's a lie. He was texting the war plan,” Goldberg replied. “He was texting the attack plan. When a target is targeted, how it is targeted, who was on the target, when the next series of attacks were happening.”

On Monday, Heggs also said, “Deceived, very discredited, created a profession that was called a journalist and pitched hoaxes over and over again.”

Goldberg has gained access to group chats featuring Trump administration figures such as Hegseth and national security adviser Mike Waltz. The Atlantic Journalist detailed his experience as part of Monday's chat. A rattling report Washington.

The existence of the chat was confirmed by National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes.

“I was sitting in the Safeway car park, looking at my phone and saying, 'Yeah, this might be real. I think Pete Hegseth just sent out the real targeting information for this group, the actual sequence of attacks,” Goldberg told Collins on Monday.

Oka reached out to the Department of Defense for comment.