President Donald Trump called The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg a ‘total sleazebag’ as he defended National Security Advisor Michael Waltz against calls to resign over the accidental addition of Goldberg to a White House group chat.
Goldberg revealed in a story Monday that a ‘Michael Waltz’ had added him to a group chat on the encrypted app Signal, where top White House officials discussed plans for attacking the Iranian-backed Houthis earlier this month.
On Tuesday, the White House went on defense against the journalist during an event in the Cabinet Room – despite Goldberg omitting certain details from his story for national security reasons.
‘But that’s an app that a lot of people use,’ Trump said of Signal. ‘And somebody got on. And I happen to know, the guy’s a total sleazebag. The Atlantic, The Atlantic is a failed magazine. Does very, very poorly, nobody gives a damn about it. This gives it a little bit of a shot.’
He continued by claiming that The Atlantic ‘made up more stories.’
‘And it’s just a failing magazine and the public understands that,’ Trump said.
He then turned his attention to Waltz, who was sitting alongside some of the president’s ambassador picks.
‘He’s a very good man. That man is a very good man right there that you criticize so strongly,’ Trump said. ‘He’s a very good man and he will continue to do a good job.’
President Donald Trump called The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg a ‘total sleazebag’ as he defended National Security Advisor Michael Waltz against calls to resign over the accidental addition of Goldberg to a White House group chat
The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffey Goldberg revealed on Monday that he had accidentally been added to a high-level White House Signal group by a ‘Michael Waltz,’ the name of the national security adviser
In an interview earlier Tuesday with NBC News, Trump suggested that it wasn’t Waltz but an unnamed aide who inadvertently added Goldberg to the group chat.
When it was Waltz’s turn to speak, he went a step futher and denied knowing Goldberg.
‘There’s a lot of journalists in this city who have made big names for themselves making up lies about this president, whether it’s the Russia hoax or making up lies about Gold Star families,’ Waltz told the room.
‘And this one in particular, I’ve never met, don’t know, never communicated with,’ the former Florida congressman claimed. ‘And we are, and we are looking into him, reviewing how the heck he got into this room.’
