President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he stands by his national security adviser, Michael Waltz, who accidentally invited the editor in chief of the Atlantic magazine to a highly sensitive chat among senior administration officials on the messaging app Signal about a forthcoming U.S. military operation.

“Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” Trump said in a phone interview with NBC News, in which he expressed confidence in his national security team even as others throughout Washington called for greater consequences after the blunder.

Later, during a White House meeting with U.S. ambassadors, Trump said Waltz had been unfairly attacked and suggested that the problem was an issue with technology, not a lapse in judgment from a key deputy. “I don’t think he should apologize. I think he’s doing his best,” Trump said. “It’s equipment and technology that’s not perfect. And, probably he won’t be using it again. At least not in the very near future.”

The Atlantic’s top editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, wrote in a first-person account published Monday that his apparently accidental addition to the chain was so reckless that at first he thought he was the subject of a hoax. The White House confirmed the authenticity of the chat.

Trump and those around him have tried to downplay the gravity of the leak. Trump told NBC that Goldberg’s addition to the chat had “no impact at all” on the March 15 military operation against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who threaten maritime trade and Israel. Trump and his allies have sought to cast doubts on the Atlantic and Goldberg’s reporting — and to denounce those who have called for an investigation or demanded that the officials involved be punished.

Trump’s words were an early sign that Waltz and others on the chat, including Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, special envoy Steve Witkoff, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, could skirt serious consequences — for now.

White House communications director Steven Cheung went so far as to say the story was an attempt to gin up “faux outrage” in line with other attacks on Trump during his political career.

“From the “Russia, Russia, Russia” hoax of the first term to the fake documents case of the last four years … at every turn anti-Trump forces have tried to weaponize innocuous actions and turn them into faux outrage that Fake News outlets can use to peddle misinformation,” he wrote on the social media site X. “Don’t let enemies of America get away with these lies.”

The reaction fit a familiar Trump pattern: Never admit a mistake.

“Russia, Russia, Russia” hoax led to a witch hunt.Documents hoax led to a witch hunt.

Signal hoax outrage… a witch hunt.

— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) March 25, 2025

During the meeting with ambassadors, both Trump and Waltz, who also attended, attempted to discredit Goldberg and his magazine. Trump said Goldberg was “a total sleazebag” who helmed “a failed magazine.” Waltz said Goldberg “wants the world talking about more hoaxes and this kind of nonsense rather than the freedom that you’re enabling.”

Others in the administration stressed that the military action against the Houthis went as planned. Hegseth bashed Goldberg and told reporters “nobody was texting war plans.” Gabbard and Ratcliffe, under questioning Tuesday by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said no classified information was shared on the chat — a statement that Democratic senators contested given the detailed war plans that Goldberg described.

In the chat, Waltz, Hegseth, Vance and others detailed the targets, weapons and strategy involved in the U.S. air attack on the Houthis. The 18-person chat also included White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the journalist reported.

Signal is a secure messaging app that allows users to create aliases and send messages that disappear after a preset time. Many members of the Washington establishment, including journalists and government officials, use the app to discuss sensitive information.

But communicating classified information is routinely subject to much more rigorous standards, and the group’s activities brought outright condemnation and immediate calls for further inquiries.

War plans and weapons particulars are generally known as “operational details” and are often classified as top secret, meaning they must be communicated either in person or in secure facilities designed to prevent adversaries from being able to listen.

Signal is also seen as vulnerable, depending on the security of the device being used — and the location. During the Senate hearing Tuesday, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) decried published reports that Witkoff participated in the chat from Russia.

Democrats on the Senate committee said the chat symbolized a careless and embarrassing disregard for government secrets.

“This is one more example of the kind of sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior, particularly toward classified information” exhibited by the Trump administration, said Sen. Mark R. Warner (Virginia), the committee’s ranking Democrat. Warner also called for both Waltz and Hegseth to resign.

“This is not a one-off,” Warner added. “If this was the case of a military officer or an intelligence officer and they had this kind of behavior, they would be fired.”

Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Roger Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, said his committee planned to investigate the issue. “It’s definitely a concern,” he said. “It appears that mistakes were made.”

In a post on X, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “No ‘war plans’ were discussed” and “No classified material was sent to the thread.”

She said the White House is looking into how Goldberg’s number was added to the group chat, but she also trashed the Atlantic’s editor in chief as “well-known for his sensationalist spin.”

Jeffrey Goldberg is well-known for his sensationalist spin. Here are the facts about his latest story:1. No “war plans” were discussed.2. No classified material was sent to the thread.

3. The White House Counsel’s Office has provided guidance on a number of different…

— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) March 25, 2025

Leavitt’s statement echoed other muted statements from prominent Republicans, including some who said the leaked chat showcased the rigor with which administration officials tackle issues of global import.

“The administration is addressing what happened,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said when asked about the lapse, adding that he doesn’t think Waltz should be disciplined. “They’re going to track that down and make sure it doesn’t happen again. What you did see, though, I think, is top-level officials doing their job, doing it well and executing on a plan with precision. Clearly I think the administration has acknowledged it was a mistake and they’ll tighten up and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”