Trump’s Idiot Cabinet Leaked Their Secret War Plan...To a Journalist

How a national security “oopsy” exposed military secrets, put lives at risk, and confirmed the Trump administration is running U.S. foreign policy like a MAGA fantasy league.

There are butt dials and then there’s accidentally adding a journalist to your national security group chat while planning a military strike.

That’s what happened inside the Trump administration, where top officials used Signal—an encrypted app more popular with tech bros and crypto traders than defense planners—to coordinate a U.S. attack on Yemen.

And somehow, Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, ended up on the thread.

What followed was a surreal, emoji-laced descent into digital negligence—culminating in real-world airstrikes that played out exactly as described in the chat.

The journalist didn’t leak it. He didn’t respond. He just watched it unfold.

“Houthi PC Small Group”

The chaos began on March 13, when Goldberg received a Signal invite from someone claiming to be Michael Waltz—Trump’s national security adviser. The group was titled “Houthi PC small group,” referring to the Principals Committee, the high-level team responsible for major national security decisions.

Except this committee wasn’t meeting in a secure government facility. They were texting. On an app. Like a college study group coordinating a final project.

Within minutes, major Trump-world players were chiming in:

• “MAR” (Marco Rubio, Secretary of State): “Mike Needham for State.”

• “JD Vance” (Vice President): “Andy Baker for VP.”

• “TG” (presumably Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence): “Joe Kent for DNI.”

• “Pete Hegseth” (Defense): “Dan Caldwell for DoD.”

• “Brian McCormack” (NSC), “John Ratcliffe” (CIA), and possibly “Stephen Miller” as “S M” all joined the chat.

And right there in the middle of it: “JG.” No role. No department. Just sitting in the virtual room with America’s top brass as they planned military action.

Goldberg had been reporting on foreign policy for decades. But this was a first: an accidental invitation to a principals committee meeting conducted like a fantasy football draft.

“I Think We Are Making a Mistake”

On March 14, the next day, the group was back at it. The topic: whether to strike the Houthis now or delay for messaging reasons.

JD Vance raised a surprisingly rational point:
“There’s a real risk that the public doesn’t understand this or why it’s necessary.”
He also worried about spiking oil prices, contradicting Trump’s message on Europe, and bailing out allies who weren’t pulling their weight.

Joe Kent jumped in: “There is nothing time sensitive driving the timeline.”

Then came Pete Hegseth, basically saying: Thanks for your thoughts, but let’s do this anyway.
“This is not about the Houthis,” he wrote. “It’s about restoring freedom of navigation and reestablishing deterrence, which Biden cratered.” Also, if they waited, it might leak—and nothing scares a MAGA war cabinet more than looking “indecisive.”

S M (likely Stephen Miller) agreed, but added a Miller-esque twist:
If the U.S. does the hard work of securing international shipping lanes, Europe better pay up.

Honestly, it read less like national security policy and more like someone trying to invoice NATO.

March 15, 11:44 a.m.: “TEAM UPDATE”

Then came the moment that made it undeniable.

On Saturday morning, March 15, Pete Hegseth sent a message labeled “TEAM UPDATE.” In it, he included sensitive operational details about the imminent strike: targets, weapons, and sequencing.

This wasn’t policy theory. This was a war plan. Shared over Signal. With a journalist.

The Vice President replied: “I will say a prayer for victory.” Others chimed in with prayer emojis.

Goldberg didn’t say anything. He didn’t leak it or try to confirm it. He just waited.

According to the text, the strike was scheduled for 1:45 p.m. Eastern. At 1:55, sitting in his car in a supermarket parking lot, Goldberg refreshed Twitter.

Yemen’s capital city was on fire.

Fire Emojis and Foreign Policy

After the bombs dropped, the Signal thread lit up.

• “Amazing job.”

• “A good start.”

• “Good Job Pete and your team!!”

• “Kudos to all – most particularly those in theater and CENTCOM!”

• Fire. Flag. Biceps. Praying hands.

It was a victory lap in emoji form. Foreign policy, brought to you by your uncle’s group chat.

The only thing missing was someone asking, “Can someone bring snacks to the next SCIF meeting?”

OPSEC? Not So Much.

At one point, Hegseth confidently told the group: “We are currently clean on OPSEC.”
This was, again, in a thread where the editor of The Atlantic was reading along.

According to national security experts, this wasn’t just careless—it may have been illegal.

• The Espionage Act prohibits sharing “national defense” information in unsecured ways.

• Federal records laws require preserving communications about official government business.

• The Signal app is not authorized for sharing classified or sensitive information—especially not war plans.

Even worse, some messages were set to disappear after one week or one month. That’s a potential violation of federal record-keeping laws.

One legal expert said government employees can’t use Signal for official business unless those messages are immediately copied to an official system. Which, spoiler: they weren’t.

Another said this entire situation resembled the kind of “hypothetical” case the Espionage Act was written for.

The White House Admits It’s Real

Goldberg reached out for comment. The response from the National Security Council was…wild.

They confirmed the Signal chat was real and chalked it up to a simple mistake:
“We are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain.”

They then praised the group for their “deep and thoughtful policy coordination.”

Apparently, “deep” now includes emoji strings and prayer hands before airstrikes.

Vice President Vance’s office released a statement saying that despite his early concerns, he was fully aligned with Trump. Because when your private hesitation gets leaked mid-bombing, political damage control comes first.

The Hypocrisy Speaks for Itself

In the end, no one got fired. No public apology. No press conference. Just a bunch of Trump officials fist-bumping in a Signal thread after accidentally leaking military plans to the editor of The Atlantic.

And that might be the most revealing part of all.

Because this wasn’t just a digital blunder. It was a glimpse into how Trump’s second-term administration actually operates: impulsively, carelessly, and totally unchecked.

They didn’t just text a journalist their war plans. They carried them out—on time, with emojis—and called it a win.

When asked about the story, Trump responded exactly how you'd expect—not with concern, but with “I know nothing about it”:

Yes. They had your Cabinet’s war plans. In a Signal group chat. With a journalist sitting in the room the whole time.

And just to really drive it home: these are the same people who spent years chanting “lock her up” over Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

So the next time someone tells you this crew is all about “law and order” or “protecting national security,” just remember:

They ran a classified military operation like a chaotic group chat—and hit send to the wrong guy.

So buckle up for four more years of these dipshits running national security.