The Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg on Tuesday threatened to release more texts exchanged in a group chat of high-ranking U.S. national security officials—a group he was inadvertently added to earlier this month.
In the 24 hours since his bombshell essay about the jaw-dropping security fiasco, Donald Trump and his administration have downplayed the massive leak and attacked Goldberg’s credibility, as well as the credibility of the 168-year-old publication.
Democrats, meanwhile, have tried to get their hands on the thread and investigate any potential leak of classified information.
In an interview with The Bulwark on Tuesday, Goldberg said the messages sent in a top-secret Signal group chat about a military strike in Yemen included “sensitive” and “technical” information.
“Maybe in the coming days, I’ll be able to let you know that, ‘Okay, I have a plan to have this material vetted publicly,’ but I’m not going to say that now because there’s a lot of conversations that have to happen about that to [have it] make sense,” he said.
Though Goldberg published parts of the text thread, including messages from Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, he blurred out portions that he said contained operational details of a strike on the Houthi militant group in Yemen.
“Just because they’re irresponsible with material doesn’t mean that I’m going to be irresponsible with this material,” he said. “My obligation, I feel, is to the idea that we take national security information seriously.”
Hegseth, for his part, threw a veritable tantrum Monday after reporters asked him about the leak, blasting Goldberg as a “highly discredited” journalist who “peddles in garbage.” He also insisted that “nobody was texting war plans.”
Goldberg said on CNN that this was “a lie,” as the texts detailed a specific time for the attack, human targets, weapon systems, and even weather reports. The strike was carried out on March 15, killing 53 people.
“I have pretty clear standards in my own behavior of what I consider information that’s in the public interest and information that’s not in the public interest,” Goldberg said. “And I’m sticking to my principles here.”
But it might not be entirely up to Goldberg whether or not those texts get released.
In a fiery Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Tuesday afternoon, Democratic lawmakers grilled Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who was also in the group chat, over the stunning leak.
Ratcliffe said the accidental inclusion of a journalist in the confidential thread was “not a huge mistake,” while Gabbard claimed that “there was no classified material that was shared.”
“If it’s not classified, share the texts now,” Sen. Mark Warner said.
“And by the way,” Sen. Jon Ossoff added, “We will get the full transcript of this chain, and your testimony will be measured carefully against its content.”
