The White House announced on the 26th that President Donald Trump still trusts his national security team despite the controversy over discussions of military operations and inviting journalists to a private messenger group chatroom.
White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt said in a briefing that day, “The president’s views have not changed yesterday or today,” and “he trusts his national security team.” The Atlantic, a weekly news magazine whose editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was invited to the chatroom, released a full transcript of Trump’s national security team’s discussions on striking pro-Iranian Houthi rebels, meaning that there has been no change in President Trump’s position until the day before. ”
What I can say for sure is that what I just spoke to the president is that he continues to have confidence in his national security team,” Levitt said, adding that Trump also saw the content released by The Atlantic that day.
He also reiterated the Trump administration’s previous position that “no war plans were discussed, no classified information was transmitted,” even though Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provided specific information about the time of the operation and the means of attack in the full message released by The Atlantic.
He said, “The thread of this message is what I would call a policy discussion,” and “Sensitive policy discussions are clearly taking place between the Cabinet and senior (White House) officials.” When reporters continued to ask, “Then why is the time of the operation classified?”
Spokesperson Levitt responded, “I would like to mention what Secretary Hegseth said this morning. He listed things that are not classified,” and asked, “Do you trust the Secretary of Defense, who was confirmed by the Senate and served honorably in combat, or do you trust Goldberg, who is a Democrat and writes sensational articles criticizing President Trump?”
Spokesperson Levitt emphasized that the operation against the Houthis was successful despite the controversy, and said, “The attack will continue until the Trump administration feels it is no longer necessary and until the terrorists are eliminated.”
Spokesperson Levitt said that the White House National Security Council (NSC), the Office of Legal Counsel, and Elon Musk’s Office of Government Effectiveness (DOGE) team are investigating how Editor Goldberg was invited to the chatroom.
“Musk offered to bring in his technical expertise to figure out how this (Goldberg’s) number got accidentally added to the chatroom,” he said. Spokesperson Levitt explained about the controversial civilian messenger ‘Signal’, saying, “This app is an encrypted app installed on government phones by the Department of Defense, the Department of State, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA),” and “It is the most secure and efficient means of communication.”
In addition, regarding the suspicion that Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East envoy who was visiting Russia on the 15th when the chatroom conversation took place, he said, “It is completely false information,” and “Special Envoy Witkoff was provided with a confidential protection server by the U.S. government and was very careful about his communications while in Russia.”
Spokesperson Levitt said, “Goldberg is an anti-Trump Democrat. His wife is also a Democrat and worked under Hillary Clinton (former Secretary of State).” He strongly criticized Goldberg for “spreading fake news” while mentioning the controversial article about ‘President Trump’s disparaging remarks about veterans’ reported in 2020. He also claimed that the Democratic Party and some media outlets that are fiercely attacking the Trump administration over this controversy are “conducting an organized campaign to create confusion, and this is an attack on the White House, which has had the most successful two months of any administration in history.”