WASHINGTON (TNND) — For the second time in as many weeks, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shut down the same reporter during a news briefing.
The journalist, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, asked Leavitt a follow up question Wednesday about how top national security officials shared sensitive attack plans over the messaging app Signal — and accidentally added “The Atlantic” editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to the chain.
President Donald Trump previously said his team told him crucial information about military plans was not included in the chat. Leavitt also said the information shared through the app was not classified.
Yet, Goldberg said top federal government officials did, in fact, reveal sensitive information about an ongoing military operation in Yemen.
That’s what prompted the question from Collins.
“Does the president feel that he was misled by his national security advisors — whoever it was — that told him there was no classified information in there now that he’s seen these messages?” Collins said.
Leavitt responded by saying she already answered the question several times amid the nearly 25-minute conference. The press secretary added that she would not be answering it again.
Kaitlan, I’m not taking your follow up,” Leavitt told Collins.
I have now been asked and answered the same question using different language multiple times. If anybody has another question, there’s a lot of different things going on in the world,” she added.
Leavitt then directed her attention away from Collins and proceeded to engage with a different reporter.
During the briefing, Leavitt said there’s no validity to Goldberg’s claims. She described him as an “anti-Trump hater” who just wants to spread lies by publishing a “sensationalized story.”
She also said Goldberg is a registered Democrat, as well as “big Democrat donor” who worked under Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“This is the same Jeffrey Goldberg who infamously lied about weapons of mass destruction to get us into the Iraq war, which cost trillions of dollars and thousands of American soldiers,” Leavitt said, also alleging that Goldberg frequently wrote favorable stories about former President Joe Biden.
Leavitt said Trump “continues to have confidence in his national security team,” adding that his administration refuses to be lectured by Democrats like Goldberg.
“The national security advisor has taken responsibility for this matter,” she said. “The National Security Council immediately said, alongside the White House Counsel’s office, that they are looking in to how a reporter’s number was inadvertently added to this messaging thread. We have said all along that no classified material was sent on this messaging thread. There were no locations, no sources, or methods revealed, and there were certainly no war plans discussed. The Atlantic has even admitted this themselves. Their release of these internal messages validates the truth, which we have been saying all along.”
“The real story here is the overwhelming success of President Trump’s decisive military action against Houthi terrorists,” she added.
Goldberg, meanwhile, stands by his claims.
The newly-published Signal messages include one from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. It details specific times and sequencing about planned U.S. strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
“I had very strong doubts that this text group was real, because I could not believe that the national-security leadership of the United States would communicate on Signal about imminent war plans,” Goldberg wrote. “I also could not believe that the national security adviser to the president would be so reckless as to include the editor in chief of The Atlantic in such discussions with senior U.S. officials, up to and including the vice president.”
