US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz added a journalist to a closed Signal chat due to confusion. An investigation revealed that several months ago, he mistakenly saved the journalist’s number under the name of another person he intended to add, reports The Guardian.
As reported by The Guardian, this error was among multiple issues uncovered during an internal examination at the White House. The probe highlighted a series of lapses that originated as far back as the 2024 electoral process and went undetected until the launch of the conversation thread earlier this month.
A review by the White House IT department revealed that Waltz saved The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg’s number after Goldberg sent an email to Donald Trump’s campaign last October.
Contact confusion
According to three informed sources, Goldberg reached out to the campaign with an article criticizing Trump for his treatment of wounded service members. To rebut the material, the campaign contacted Waltz.
Goldberg’s email landed in Brian Hughes’ inbox; Hughes was serving as the spokesperson for the Trump campaign back then. From this email, Hughes extracted Goldberg’s telephone number located in the footer and transferred it into a text message addressed to Waltz. However, instead of calling Goldberg directly, Hughes inadvertently stored Goldberg’s contact information under his own name in his iPhone contacts. Currently, Hughes holds the position of spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council.
iPhone feature
White House officials explained that the number was saved by mistake due to the “contact suggestion update” feature on Waltz’s iPhone. One source told the publication that this feature allows the iPhone to automatically add an unknown number to an existing contact if the algorithm thinks they are connected.
The mistake was not noticed until March of this year when Waltz tried to add Hughes to a Signal group chat but instead added Goldberg’s number.
Signal scandal
As a reminder, US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz recently accidentally added The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to a high-level officials’ chat. In the chat, they were discussing US plans to strike the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth revealed details about the operation in the chat just half an hour before its commencement, including information about the fighter jets’ departure time and more.
The Atlantic reported that this information was classified, and its release could have harmed the pilots. However, Hegseth denied these claims. According to him, he did not disclose any names, targets, or locations.
To learn more about the scandal, check out RBC-Ukraine’s report.
