Donald Trump’s White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has issued a blunt response to the leaked messages that were accidentally shared with a journalist from The Atlantic

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt conducts a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on March 17, 2025 in Washington, DC. Leavitt talked about U.S. airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemin, the deportation of Venezuelans to El Salvador and whether the Trump administration will conform with federal judges' orders.
Karoline Leavitt has responded to the text messages leak (Image: (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images))

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has issued a surprising response to the text messages leak that occurred on Monday revealing Trump’s war plans, seemingly implying that the journalist who was added to the group chat is to blame for what has happened.

This comes as JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth mistakenly texted war plans to a secure messaging group that included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, who shared the screenshots of the text messages

In a major error that could have serious ramifications, the National Security Council confirmed on Monday that the text chain discussing upcoming military strikes in Yemen “appears to be authentic.”

Leavitt took to X to write: “Jeffrey Goldberg is well-known for his sensationalist spin. Here are the facts about his latest story: 1. No “war plans” were discussed. 2. No classified material was sent to the thread. 3. The White House Counsel’s Office has provided guidance on a number of different platforms for President Trump’s top officials to communicate as safely and efficiently as possible.”

She continued: “As the National Security Council stated, the White House is looking into how Goldberg’s number was inadvertently added to the thread. Thanks to the strong and decisive leadership of President Trump, and everyone in the group, the Houthi strikes were successful and effective. Terrorists were killed and that’s what matters most to President Trump.”

The content of the text chain “contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Iran-backed Houthi-rebels in Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing,” according to Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief.

Donald Trump delivers remarks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on March 24, 2025 in Washington, DC. This is Trump's third Cabinet meeting of his second term and focused on spending cuts proposed by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Pete Hegseth and JD Vance’s stunning leaked message shows their true feelings (Image: (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images))
Just two hours after Goldberg received the details of the attack on March 15, the U.S. initiated a series of airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.

The National Security Council stated that it was investigating how the journalist’s number ended up in the Signal group chat.