Trump stands by security team, says he won’t ‘fire people’ over Signal leak
Atlantic reveals new Signal texts from Pete Hegseth
The Atlantic revealed new text messages from Pete Hegseth. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement: "The Atlantic has conceded: these were NOT "war plans." This entire story was another hoax written by a Trump-hater who is well-known for his sensationalist spin.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - On Saturday, President Donald Trump made his clearest commitment to not fire anyone over an embarrassing accidental leak of his administration’s plans for an airstrike against the Houthis in Yemen.
"I don’t fire people because of fake news and because of witch hunts," Trump said in an interview with NBC News' Kristen Welker.
He also said that he had confidence in Mike Waltz, his national security adviser, and Pete Hegseth, his Pentagon chief.
US President Donald Trump looks on as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, on February 26, 2025. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
Waltz inadvertently added Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic magazine, to a group text using the Signal encrypted messaging service where top officials were discussing plans to attack the Houthis.
RELATED: Excerpts of Signal group chat that shared attack plans released
During the chat, Hegseth included details on how the strike would unfold before it took place.
Afterwards, The Atlantic published an article on the internal exchange, shocking the national security establishment.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remarks on signal leak
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke to reporters about the signal leak at Joint Base Peal Harbor-Hickam Wednesday. This comes after an Atlantic editor-in-chief on Wednesday released the full text message chain between Trump administration officials including Hegseth.
Trump is eager to avoid repeating some of the turnover that characterized his first term. Mike Flynn, his first national security adviser, was pushed out after only a few weeks during the early phase of the Russia investigation. He’s also shown resistance to bowing to outside pressure, especially if it comes from the news media.
Asked if there were conversations about firing Waltz, Trump insisted, "I’ve never heard that. And nobody else makes that decision but me, and I’ve never heard it."
The Source: The Associated Press contributed to this report. The information in this story comes from an interview President Donald Trump gave to NBC News' Kristen Welker, where he addressed the leak and defended his national security team. This story was reported from Los Angeles.