‘That’s A Lie!’ Jeffrey Goldberg Smacks Down Hegseth Denial Over Blockbuster Leak

Tommy ChristopherMar 25th, 2025, 9:31 am

The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg told CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins that Trump Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s denial of the bombshell leak of war plans was absolutely “a lie!”

The political media world was stunned Monday when Goldberg dropped a blockbuster report that revealed he was (apparently inadvertently) included in a text chain discussing detailed war plans on the encrypted Signal app.

Trump National Security Adviser Mike Waltz is the official who accidentally added Goldberg to a group chat in which the Principals Committee discussed plans to strike Houthi rebels in Yemen — strikes that shortly came to pass.

Hegseth claimed there were no war plans discussed when he was pressed by a reporter on Monday afternoon:

REPORTER: Why were those details shared on Signal, and how did you learn that a journalist was privy to the targets, the types of weapons used and the timing?

HEGSETH: I’ve heard how — I’ve heard how it was characterized. Nobody was texting war plans. And that’s all I have to say about that.

On Monday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Collins confronted Goldberg with Hegseth’s denial and asked “is that how you saw it?”:

COLLINS: I want to start by getting your reaction to what we heard from Secretary Hegseth there, saying that, Nobody was texting war plans. Given you were privy to this group chat, is that how you saw it?

GOLDBERG: No, that’s a lie! He was texting war plans. He was texting attack plans, when targets were going to be targeted, how they were going to be targeted, who was at the targets, when the next sequence of attacks were happening.

I didn’t publish this, and I continue not to publish it, because it felt like it was too confidential, too technical. And I worry, honestly, that sharing that kind of information in public could endanger American military personnel.

But no, they were — they were plans for the attack.

COLLINS: That’s when–

GOLDBERG: And they were texted before the attack.

COLLINS: And there were things texted that you viewed as so sensitive, you did not even publish them–

GOLDBERG: Right.

COLLINS: –in your report today.

GOLDBERG: I made the decision that the technical aspects of this, including what kinds of weapons packages, the attack sequencing, and so on, that’s not necessarily in the public interest.

What’s in the public interest is that they were running a war plan, on a messaging app, and didn’t even know who was invited into the conversation. I mean, it’s an obvious, ridiculous security breach. And he, if you notice, he didn’t actually answer the question.

COLLINS: But his attempt at a denial also stood out to me. Because no one that I talked to at the White House today argued this, or tried to say, These were misconstrued, or altered, or, This is not real.

GOLDBERG: Yes.

COLLINS: I mean, the National Security Council confirmed the veracity of this.

GOLDBERG: Yes, the National Security Council, I asked various officials, including Pete Hegseth, this morning, for comment.

And the first question I had for everyone, Is this real? I wanted to make sure, obviously, before we go public, and say, Are you sure that this is not a disinformation campaign run by a foreign state, a non- state actor of some sort, trying to target a journalist for reasons I couldn’t explain?

And they’re like, No, no, this is a — this is apparently a real channel. And I appreciate them telling the truth about that, and we published, writing–

COLLINS: Did they seem alarmed when you reached out for comment?

GOLDBERG: Probably it’s not the happiest day that they experienced in the White House so far, but they were professional about it.