Why Is Mike Waltz Pretending He Never Met Jeffrey Goldberg? The Answer is Painfully Obvious

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz REALLY wants the world to know that he has no idea who Jeffrey Goldberg is  — never met the guy or had a discussion, which is why his inadvertent inclusion of The Atlantic editor into a super secret and high-level Signal chat is so damn mysterious!

Waltz is eager to spread that narrative — even telling Laura Ingraham he’s got Elon Musk and his merry techsters looking into how Goldberg got on to that Signal chat (though he wisely refrained from donning a hot dog suit while making that claim).

Yes, this is just the latest edition of banal observations that need to be made because we live in a time where the obvious needs to be stated and made clear while the most powerful elected officials are effectively trying to tell their constituents that the sky isn’t blue, or more to the point, leaked details about an attack on Iranian-backed Houthi rebels were not classified and do not constitute war plans.

During a Tuesday afternoon White House press event, President Donald Trump tossed to his National Security Advisor as he was pressured questions about the apparent security lapse — to which Waltz insulted Goldberg’s work and insisted, “I’ve never met, don’t know, never communicated with [him].”

Here’s the thing — the National Security Advisor seems clearly mistaken, evidenced by photographs of the two of them together at a small gathering, attended by Waltz and moderated by Goldberg. We know this because of the great work done by Lawfare’s Anna Bower, who dug up the images:

It’s certainly plausible that the two of these high-profile individuals were just two ships passing in the noir of a French filmmaker event (ooh la la). However, more damning evidence is the screenshot released by Goldberg on Monday:

Again, it sure looks like Michael Waltz added Goldberg to the Signal discussion group, though there is a chance that an assistant with access to his phone may have been responsible. Enter Team Elon to investigate. However, Goldberg reported that he had previously met Waltz and did not find it out of the ordinary that he would reach out to him on Signal, which is standard operation procedure for White House officials and journalists covering them.

But Occam’s Razor suggests a much more apparent reason why Goldberg was added and why Waltz is insisting he never met the guy: Waltz has been communicating with Goldberg about sensitive issues, leaking sensitive information that could, at the very least, be very embarrassing to the National Security Advisor and, at worst, be worthy of a criminal investigation.

We now cut to Wednesday’s Reliable Sources newsletter in which Brian Stelter reported that, when asked if he’d ever met with Waltz, Goldberg declined to comment:

Mike Waltz, in a challenging interview with Laura Ingraham last night, repeatedly said he doesn’t know Goldberg. I asked Goldberg if that’s true, and the editor said he is declining to comment about his history with Waltz.

Duh, duh, duh!

Again, it does not take a massive leap of logic to see that Waltz and Goldberg are refusing to confirm any past interactions because said past communications would, at best, break an “off the record” agreement, or embarrassingly reveal Waltz to be an on background leaker or worse — something more nefarious, like sharing classified information in a criminal manner.

Watch above via CNN.

More on the Trump Admin War Plan Leak:

1. The Atlantic Publishes Trump Attack Plans After Administration Denies Group Chat
2. Trump Just Handed His Biggest Enemy in Media a Slam Dunk
3. But How Did It End Up In Your Phone?’ Laura Ingraham Grills Trump NatSec Advisor Over Leak ‘That’s a Pretty Big Problem’
4. Bombshell Text Release Shows Trump Officials Were BSing Senators — Under Oath — Hours Earlier
5. JD Vance Criticizes Trump in Leaked War Plans Group Chat: ‘Not Sure the President Is Aware How Inconsistent This Is’
6. Trump Officials Stumped At Hearing When Asked If Goldberg Can Post Bombshell Texts Since They Claim No Classified Info

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.