The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Our Editor Their War Plans

Radio Atlantic

The Atlantic

Politics, News, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 25 March 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, received a connection request on Signal from a “Michael Waltz,” which is the name of President Donald Trump’s national security adviser. Two days later, he was added to a group text with top administration officials created for the purpose of coordinating high-level national-security conversations about the Houthis in Yemen. (Read his story here.) We talk with Goldberg and Shane Harris, an Atlantic national-security reporter, about what it means that this absurd and admittedly relatable thing happened in such a high-stakes situation. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, including clear-eyed analysis, insight on breaking news, and fascinating explorations of our world. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/podsub. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:05.2	On March 15th, the U.S. began a bombing campaign against Houthi groups in Yemen.
1:16.7	A couple of hours before that, our editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, sat in his car in a supermarket parking lot waiting to see if and when the attack would start. How he knew about this military
1:23.6	campaign is a very weird story. Not long ago, Jeff was added to a text chain of very
1:30.9	important people in the administration. Presumably, he was added to it by accident. I know. It
1:36.3	happens to the best of us. But there was the editor of the Atlantic monitoring the back and
	...

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