Mike Waltz accidentally leaked US military plans to a journalist after saving his phone number under the name of a close aide, according to reports.
An investigation by the White House found the US national security adviser had mistakenly listed the number for Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, under that of Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the US national security council, sources told The Guardian.
Donald Trump, the US president, is said to have been placated by the findings, having previously considered sacking Mr Waltz for his apparent links to Mr Goldberg.
Last month, Mr Waltz inadvertently revealed plans for US military strikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels by adding Mr Goldberg to a chat on Signal, an encrypted messaging service.
The White House found that the issue had its roots in the 2024 presidential election campaign, when Mr Goldberg reached out to the Trump team about a story criticising the then Republican candidate for his attitude to wounded military veterans.
Mr Hughes, then a spokesman for the Trump campaign, is said to have forwarded the journalist’s email and contact details to Mr Waltz in October so he could be briefed on the story.
Jeffrey Goldberg says he knows and has previously spoken to Mike Waltz – Brett Duke/AP
Mr Waltz then inadvertently saved Mr Goldberg’s phone number under Mr Hughes’ name after his iPhone suggested updating contact details.
On March 13, the US national security adviser then added Mr Goldberg to a “Houthi PC small group” chat on Signal, where he and other cabinet members, including JD Vance, vice-president, and Pete Hegseth, defence secretary, discussed plans for the strike and its aftermath.
Mr Waltz has previously taken pains to distance himself from Mr Goldberg as others in Mr Trump’s orbit questioned his connections to a journalist who had controversially labelled the president a “de facto agent” of Vladimir Putin.
Questioned on Fox News about his ties to the “Trump-hating editor of The Atlantic” last month, he claimed that Mr Goldberg had “[got] on somebody’s contact” and been “sucked into” his phone.
He then went on to attack the magazine editor as a “loser”, insisted he had never reached out or talked to Mr Goldberg, and suggested that the journalist might somehow have “deliberately” saved his number under a different name.
Mr Goldberg has said he knows and has previously spoken to the former Florida congressman.
“This isn’t The Matrix, phone numbers don’t just get sucked into other phones,” he told NBC News last week.
Mr Trump reportedly spent days mulling whether to sack his national security adviser, having been alarmed by his connections to Mr Goldberg, whom he loathes.
According to the New York Times, the president asked figures inside and outside his administration whether he should sack Mr Waltz, before deciding he did not want to cave in to media pressure.
Mr Waltz was already viewed with suspicion by some members of the administration for his previous criticism of Mr Trump as a draft-dodger, as well as his hawkish tendencies and advocacy for military action against Iran.
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