Messages with Yemen war plans inadvertently shared with reporter appears ‘authentic’: Official

The White House said Monday a Signal group chat discussing a U.S. attack on Houthis in Yemen that inadvertently included Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, “appears to be authentic.”

Members of the Trump administration coordinated highly sensitive war plans on the unsecure group chat, Goldberg wrote in a report for the publication on Monday.

White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes shared with ABC News the statement he provided to The Atlantic confirming the veracity of a Signal group chat, which Goldberg said appeared to include Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, among others.

“At this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain. The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our servicemembers or our national security,” Hughes said in the statement.

Asked about the incident, President Donald Trump said he “doesn’t know anything about it,” and later added that he was hearing about it for the first time from the reporter who asked the question.

The Pentagon referred questions about Hegseth’s participation in the Signal discussion and the sharing of attack plans to the National Security Council and the White House.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce was asked about the Atlantic’s report — including why members of the Cabinet were having a classified conversation over Signal and whether Rubio was concerned about the implications of the incident.

“Well, I have two very short things to say to you: First is that we will not comment on the secretary’s deliberative conversations, and secondly, that you should contact the White House,” Bruce responded.

-ABC News’ Luis Martinez and Shannon K. Kingston contributed to this report.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.