Trump top aide takes ‘full responsibility’ for military chat leak as US President defends ‘good man’

Waltz’s comments came one day after Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, revealed that he was added to a group on Signal, a private messaging app, that included vice-president JD Vance, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, secretary of state Marco Rubio and other high-profile figures discussing “operational details” of US airstrikes on Houthis in Yemen.

Waltz, speaking to Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, admitted to creating the chat but deflected blame, insulted Goldberg, and insisted he didn’t know how the mistake occurred. “It’s embarrassing, yes. We’re going to get to the bottom of it,” he said, adding that he was consulting with Elon Musk: “We’ve got the best technical minds looking at how this happened.”

When asked “what staffer is responsible” for adding Goldberg to the Signal group, Waltz said: “A staffer wasn’t responsible. I take full responsibility. I built the group. My job is to make sure everything is coordinated.”

Pressed on how Goldberg’s number ended up in the group, Waltz said: “Have you ever had somebody’s contact that shows their name and then you have somebody else’s number there? … Of course I didn’t see this loser in the group. It looked like someone else.” He also floated an unsubstantiated theory that Goldberg may have “deliberately” ended up in the chat but failed to provide any evidence.

Trump, meanwhile, added to the confusion in a separate Newsmax interview, appearing to contradict Waltz’s claim that no staffer was responsible. “We believe … somebody that was on the line, with permission, somebody that … worked with Mike Waltz at a lower level, had Goldberg’s number or call through the app, and somehow this guy ended up on the call.” His remarks further muddied the situation, given that Goldberg was added to a text chat, not a call.

Trump previously defended Waltz, saying he was a “good man” who “learned a lesson”, and also downplayed the incident, saying the leak was “the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one”.

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