Reporter Confronts Trump on Apparent Butt Dial: ‘Did You Mean To Call Me at 1:30 in the Morning?’
The Atlantic released the transcript of its interview with President Donald Trump, who answered questions from Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg and reporters Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer.
The four discussed a wide array of topics, and Scherer saved the weirdest question for last.
Last month, Goldberg famously revealed he was accidentally added to a Signal group chat by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. In that chat, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth revealed highly detailed information about upcoming air strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen. The stunning report sparked a weeklong news cycle about security breaches in the Trump administration. That concern was reignited last week after it was revealed Hegseth shared the same attack plans in another Signal group chat with his wife, brother, and attorney.
In the interview, Trump reiterated that Waltz and Hegseth are respectively “fine” and “safe” in their current roles.
“I think we learned: Maybe don’t use Signal, okay?” Trump said. “If you want to know the truth. I would frankly tell these people not to use Signal, although it’s been used by a lot of people. But, whatever it is, whoever has it, whoever owns it, I wouldn’t want to use it.”
“You don’t use Signal yourself?” Parker asked.
“I don’t use it, no,” the president responded.
At the very end of the interview, Scherer asked Trump about an early-morning phone call the reporter got from the president:
Scherer: Did you mean to call me at 1:30 in the morning after the UFC fight? I got a call—
Trump: After what?
Scherer: After the UFC fight in Miami, I got a call from your cellphone number at 1:30 a.m.
Trump: Really? Oh, no, that’s another—that sounds like another Signal thing.
The reporters said the interview came about after they managed to get Trump’s cell phone number and called him.
