This week is dominated by news that a prominent journalist was mistakenly included in a group chat with senior Trump administration officials discussing future attacks on Yemen's Houtis.
And that journalist, Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg, found himself facing a fierce attack from Trump's orbit, including the president himself.
When Goldberg left Firestorm on Monday, he first announced the story that national security adviser Michael Waltz was incorrectly included in a signalling chat about plans to attack the Hoosis. The chat included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State Pete Hegses, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and several other high-ranking figures.
To publish his story and denounce the Trump administration for embarrassing security breaches did not win his friends high. Goldberg has been a well-known media figure for decades, and he was President Barack Obama's go-to interviewer to discuss foreign policy during his administration.
President Trump criticized Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg after reporting on a management group chat that incorrectly included high-level discussions about military operations in Yemen. (Brendan Smialowski/Contributor | Tasos Katopodis/Stringer)
Trump's administrator declares a “horror” after dropping “war plans” on Atlantic signal articles. rhetoric
Trump's news chief Caroline Leavitt said this week that he “described as “anti-Trump Harter” to media who prefers to push manufacturing and hoaxes over Jeffrey Goldberg, and accused President Donald Trump of pushing fake stories of military personnel as “losers and suckers.”
Trump was enthusiastically contested the Atlantic claims that he had a light paraded a veteran who died in that fashion in a story released in the heat of the 2020 election.
“I just happen to know that the guy is a complete three-bag,” Trump said this week in Goldberg. “Atlantic is a failed magazine and it's going to be very poor. No one cares about it.”
In another interview this week, Trump said, “He's the highest three-bag. His magazine has failed. In my opinion, he'll go out of business soon.”
Under Goldberg's leadership, the Atlantic supported President Hillary Clinton in 2016, Joe Biden in 2020 and Kamala Harris in 2024, and approved the support of the third, fourth and fifth presidents in the magazine's history. Although the magazine has printed heterodox views on many topics over the years, its official position on Trump is hostile and calls him “one of the most personally malignant and politically dangerous.”
Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of the Atlantic. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images in the Atlantic)
Veteran Senator Dem demands that Hegustes resign from signal chat leak
The top Trump officials involved in the story are also chasing Goldberg.
At one point, Waltz called Goldberg the “loser” while arguing about the leak.
Hegseth said Goldberg was “a deceitful and highly unreliable, so-called journalist who has created a sold-out occupation many times, saying it was “in the garbage.” He also said that war plans and classified information have not been spreading in the chat.
Goldberg, after withholding some of what he characterized as overly sensitive material initially shared in the thread, The rest has been published What he called the Yemeni Trump team's “attack plan” on Wednesday. Vice President JD Vance said Goldberg “oversells” his material.
“There is a clear public interest in disclosing the kind of information that includes Trump advisors on unsecured communications channels, particularly as senior administration figures try to underestimate the importance of shared messages,” wrote Goldberg and reporter Shane Harris.
The Trump team's harsh words to Goldberg are certainly not surprising given the mutual antagonism between the administration and much of the media, but whether familiar playbooks are effective in neutralizing the story is another question.
Pete Hegseth will speak on January 25, 2025, after being sworn in as new U.S. Secretary of Defense by Vice President JD Vance of Eisenhower Executive Office Building, in the White House in Washington, DC. (Photo by Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)
Atlantic Reporter publishes more text about attacks on Houthi's targets
“It's outrageous that everyone attacks him,” the former Atlantic employee told Fox News Digital. “I think it's generally a 'lie' about the main dems and Republicans, evasion, what this group was. [doing] And what was being sent is clear. And the urge to kick Goldberg is just troubling and not plagued by his leaders. It looks trivial. ”
Another media writer said Trump proved the attack media They added that Trump's treatment of journalists “goes far beyond the typical hostility towards the press,” but it's an effective strategy.
“The enthusiastic response from many in the media to his presidency has encouraged the worst public doubts of the media and its prejudice,” they told Fox News Digital. “For these reasons, I don't think this is a losing strategy from the White House. Trump's combination of attacks on the media and decentralising information means that Americans no longer share a common reality.”
“All Americans should want a media that isn't afraid to challenge the US government. We are in danger when the free press is pressing for scrutiny to avoid dealing with the world's most powerful political organization,” they added.
The White House has boosted the initial claim that the Atlantic had shared a “war plan,” and said authorities have consistently touted Houthi's operation against terrorists as a massive success, regardless of the chat blunder.
It has not stopped Democrats and Trump administration critics from resigning to Waltz and Hegses and investigating what they call illegal security breaches that could endanger American service members.
The Atlantic issued a sharp statement on Wednesday in response to the war of words from Trump.
Click here to get the Fox News app
“The Atlantic, our editors, and our attempts to disgrace and trust our report are following the obvious playbook of the First Amendment rights of powerful people and all Americans who are hostile to elected officials and journalists,” the spokesman said.
A spokesman told Fox News Digital in search of additional comment: “The Trump administration is trying to distract attention from what officials have done by focusing on semantics and attacks on the Atlantic. We have now published a signal message for everyone to read.
