On Monday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reacted to a report from The Atlantic’s editor, who said he was added to a group chat where top Trump administration officials shared official war plans for an attack on Houthi rebels.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Clinton said on X, with an emoji rolling its eyes.
As the former Secretary of State, Clinton was heavily criticized over her use of a private server for classified emails.During her 2016 presidential bid, Clinton was threatened with jail time and prosecution over her handling of the emails.
Now, some are already pointing to the similarities between this situation and Clinton’s, as Jeffery Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, wrote in a piece on Monday detailing what recently happened.
Goldberg claims that he was added to a group chat on the private messaging app Signal in which top officials debated and discussed details of several attacks that were to be carried out in Yemen and then eventually happened earlier this month.
Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the National Security Council, confirmed that the message chain detailed in Goldberg’s article was authentic. President Trump has said that he knew nothing of the report of the group chat.
“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,” Hughes said.
Goldberg claimed that national security adviser Mike Waltz had connected with him on Signal on March 11. Two days later, he said he was invited to join a chat called the “Houthi PC small group.” In the chat, the officials discussed plans, appearing to not know Goldberg was present in the chat.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly sent details on the weapons used, targets, and timing two hours before the attacks kicked off on March 15, the report said.
Those reportedly in the group chat were Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
The White House has responded to criticism over the report by saying that the attack on the Houthis was successful.
“The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials,” Hughes said. “The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our servicemembers or our national security.”
“As President Trump said, the attacks on the Houthis have been highly successful and effective. President Trump continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team, including National Security Advisor Mike Waltz,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an emailed statement.
As for Clinton, in 2016, the FBI investigated her emails and deemed that she was “extremely careless” in using a private server but that her actions did not deserve an indictment. A total of 113 emails from Clinton contained information deemed to be classified at the time they were sent or received.