Following Jeffrey Goldberg’s explosive scoop in The Atlantic, exposing that Donald Trump’s nationwide safety crew by chance included him in a Sign group chat supposed for planning navy strikes in Yemen, the administration and its MAGA media allies have tried to brush the screw-up below the rug by taking purpose on the editor-in-chief and his publication.
When Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth—who was within the group chat and was recognized because the official who despatched categorized conflict plans to its members, unwittingly with Goldberg current—was questioned concerning the incident, he angrily chuckled earlier than attacking the longtime reporter and editor.
“So you’re speaking a few deceitful and extremely discredited so-called journalist who has made a occupation of peddling hoaxes,” Hegseth mentioned of Goldberg. “It is a man that peddles in rubbish,” he continued. The Protection Secretary additionally argued that “no one was texting conflict plans” within the Sign group—a story that runs fully counter to Goldberg’s reporting.
“That’s a lie,” Goldberg bluntly responded whereas showing Monday evening on Kaitlan Collins’ The Supply. “He was texting conflict plans. He was texting assault plans.” The data revealed within the group textual content included “When targets had been going to be focused, how they had been going to be focused, who was on the targets, when the subsequent sequence of assaults had been taking place,” Goldberg defined. He added that The Atlantic opted to not publish the data “as a result of it felt prefer it was too confidential.”
In his reporting, Goldberg wrote that Hegseth particularly texted “exact details about weapons packages, targets, and timing” for a US strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen. Not solely that, however Brian Hughes, the spokesman for the Nationwide Safety Council, confirmed to Goldberg that the dialog was an “genuine message chain.”
The assaults on Goldberg’s journalism additionally got here immediately from the White Home. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt argued that “Jeffrey Goldberg is well-known for his sensationalist spin.” The president, in the meantime, claimed he knew nothing concerning the story when requested about it by a reporter, saying he’s “not a giant fan of The Atlantic. To me, it’s {a magazine} that’s going out of enterprise.” Elon Musk joined in on the discourse by slamming the journal, posting on X that the “Greatest place to cover a lifeless physique is web page 2 of The Atlantic journal, as a result of nobody ever goes there.”
The Atlantic’s CEO Nicholas Thompson pushed again on any assertion that the journal is struggling financially, posting on social media that they’ve “extra subscribers than ever earlier than, advert income is up, we’re rising quickly, we’re worthwhile, we’re rising print points, and we’re hiring a number of wonderful folks.” As of December 2024, the journal had amassed greater than 1.15 million paid print and digital subscribers, a 14.7 % improve year-over-year, in response to information offered by The Atlantic.
The White Home’s high media allies additionally made efforts to tar Goldberg and decrease issues over a nationwide safety leak of this nature. Fox Information host Jesse Watters kicked off his Monday evening present’s dialogue of the incident with a chyron that learn, “We’ve all texted the unsuitable particular person earlier than.” After explaining Goldberg’s story, Watters conceded it “may have been a wee little bit of a safety breach” earlier than torching Goldberg as “One of many largest hoax artists round.” The community’s morning program Fox & Associates on Tuesday took a similar position on the scandal: co-host Kayleigh McEnany known as the incident an “apparent mistake” whereas jabbing at Goldberg as “not a reputable reporter.”
MAGA media influencers additionally obtained in on trashing Goldberg’s reporting and credibility. Charlie Kirk, for instance, attacked Goldberg for “writing piece after fake-news piece within the New Yorker about how Saddam Hussein was aiding and abetting Osama Bin Laden to assault America on 9/11.” The important thing Trump ally claimed Goldberg’s reporting was utilized by Dick Cheney to “lead us headlong into one of many dumbest wars in American historical past.”
Donald Trump Jr. additionally focused Goldberg in a social media publish asking why he doesn’t “speak in confidence to readers in his tales that he’s a registered Democrat?” The president’s son added that Goldberg’s “spouse additionally labored for Hillary Clinton and has donated practically $25k to Democrats.”
In response to the assaults, a spokesperson for The Atlantic informed VF that “Makes an attempt to disparage and discredit The Atlantic, our editor, and our reporting follows an apparent playbook by elected officers and others in energy who’re hostile to journalists and the First Modification rights of all People. Our journalists are persevering with to fearlessly and independently report the reality within the public curiosity.”
Goldberg will not be involved about assaults in opposition to him or his publication, telling Oliver Darcy that he worries “about getting the story proper and ensuring that I shared with the general public what I believe the general public ought to know.” He added, “And if folks wish to threaten or intimidate the press, I’m prepared for it.”
