Inside Trump’s rage at ‘stupid’ top national security aide as he battles ’embarrassing’ leaked war plans texts
President Donald Trump lauded National Security Advisor Michael Waltz as a ‘good man’ who will continue to do a ‘good job’ during an event at the White House on Tuesday.
Behind-the-scenes, Trump wasn’t so chivalrous.
Politico reported Wednesday morning that Trump was upset when he found out Waltz had accidentally included The Atlantic’s Editor-in-chief Jeffery Goldberg on a Signal group chat where top Trump officials planned an attack on the Houthis.
‘The president was pissed that Waltz could be so stupid,’ a source told the news site.
Trump was furious and his darkest suspicion about Waltz resurfaced. Why did he have Goldberg’s number?
Indeed, it was Goldberg who had reported in September 2020 that Trump had called fallen American soldiers ‘suckers’ and ‘losers.’
Another Politico source said that president found the whole episode ’embarrassing.’
Two months and six days into the Trump 2.0 administration and this is the first major scandal involving leaks – something that plagued the president’s first administration nearly weekly.
President Donald Trump (left) was angrier at National Security Advisor Michael Waltz (right) then he let on during an event with his ambassador picks at the White House on Tuesday, according to a report from Politico
A source also said that Waltz’s relationship has been strained with the president’s inner circle.
Those in the MAGA movement already viewed Waltz skeptically for previously working for the prominent neocon, former Vice President Dick Cheney.
In the hours following The Atlantic’s first release of messages on Monday, Waltz appeared most likely to take the fall.
Now Democrats are calling for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s head over some of the information revealed in The Atlantic’s Wednesday release of texts.
Trump vouched for Waltz Tuesday at a White House meeting with ambassadors and said the not-perfect technology was to blame.
‘He’s a very good man. That man is a very good man right there that you criticize so strongly,’ Trump said. ‘He’s a very good man and he will continue to do a good job.’
The president also said in an interview with NBC that it was one of Waltz’s aides who inadvertently added The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief to the war-planning group chat.
During the ambassadors’ meeting, Trump said Waltz didn’t need to apologize.
‘No, I don’t think he should apologize. I think he’s doing his best. It’s equipment and technology that’s not perfect, and probably he won’t be using it again, at least not in the near future,’ Trump said.
When it was Waltz’s turn to speak he denied knowing Goldberg.
‘There’s a lot of journalists in this city who have made big names for themselves making up lies about this president, whether it’s the Russia hoax or making up lies about Gold Star families,’ Waltz told the room.
‘And this one in particular, I’ve never met, don’t know, never communicated with,’ he claimed. ‘And we are, and we are looking into him, reviewing how the heck he got into this room.’
Goldberg had written in the piece that he had met Waltz, a former Florida congressman, in the past.
‘I have met him in the past, and though I didn’t find it particularly strange that he might be reaching out to me, I did think it somewhat unusual, given the Trump administration’s contentious relationship with journalists – and Trump’s periodic fixation on me specifically,’ Goldberg wrote in The Atlantic.
It remains unclear how Waltz or an aide acting on Waltz’s orders would have had Goldberg’s phone number if they weren’t acquainted.
‘So, look, this journalist, Mr. President, wants the world talking about more hoaxes and this kind of nonsense rather than the freedom that you’re enabling and a key part of our sovereignty is open sea lanes and knocking the crap out of terrorists, which is exactly what your team, and Pete Hegseth, a good friend and fellow veteran, is leading the charge on,’ Waltz said.
