The co-hosts of Fox & Friends expressed bafflement Tuesday as to how a journalist hated by the Trump administration was added to a group chat of senior officials who shared what appeared to be classified intelligence.
“This was an obvious mistake, obviously,” said co-host Kayleigh McEnany, a former White House press secretary during President Donald Trump’s first administration.
The Atlantic‘s Jeffrey Goldberg reported Monday that he was inadvertently invited to the chat in the messaging app Signal by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz on March 15.
Over a dozen officials were also in the chat, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and proceeded to share information on plans for military strikes targeting Houthi militants in Yemen that happened hours later.
McEnany praised the National Security Council for “eating crow” by admitting to The Atlantic that Goldberg was added to what “appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain.”
But she then expressed outrage at how, of all people, Goldberg—who is despised in Trump World for having authored several notable articles seen as embarrassing to the president—was added to a confidential discussion among senior officials.
“How does this most horrific of all reporters in Washington, D.C. get added to your text chain?” she asked. “There are a lot of questions.”
Co-host Lawrence Jones agreed: “I’m curious, whoever did end up adding him, why are you communicating with this guy? This is not the person to be communicating with.”
Some commentators questioned on social media Monday why Waltz had Goldberg’s number in the first place.
Ryan Grim, a D.C.-based reporter for Drop Site News, said a source familiar with the situation told him Waltz was “already leaking to Goldberg, an ally in some internal Trump admin fights.”
Politico reported Monday evening that some officials believe Waltz needs to be forced out of his job over the affair.
Steve Doocy, another Fox & Friends co-host, said he spoke to a federal law enforcement source who told him, based on their reading of The Atlantic‘s article, “what was revealed was classified and top secret.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt denied that classified material was sent to the chat in a statement posted to social media Tuesday morning.
Jones, meanwhile, said that the use of Signal—an encrypted messaging app overseen by a non-profit foundation that is widely viewed as one of the most secure methods of commercially available digital communication—is widespread among government officials who are not supposed to use it.
“The CIA, every single intelligence agency uses Signal,” Jones said. “I know that for a fact. I talk to them on Signal. They’re sources of mine. They all use Signal. It is the best way and the most secure way to get information out and that’s why a lot of journalists use it as well.
“They’re not supposed to do it, but they do it anyway,” he added.
