Overview

Pete Hegseth Texting War Plans to Atlantic Editor refers to a reported security blunder by U.S. President Donald Trump's second administration at the hands of his Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and staffer Michael Waltz who reportedly added The Atlantic's Editor-In-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg into a Signal group chat called Houthi PC Small Group by accident. In late March 2025, Hegseth discussed classified bombings in Yemen against Houthi rebels, which came to fruition a few hours later. Goldberg left the group chat and published the story soon after, titling the article, "The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans." The story quickly went viral on Twitter / X and other social media sites. Memes at Hegseth's expense surfaced en masse, typically using the situation as an example of his incompetence. Many of the memes used the emoji combination "👊 🇺🇸 🔥" because the Michael Waltz account had sent it in the group chat. Hegseth later denied the claims.

Background

On March 24th, 2025, the Atlantic^[1] Editor-In-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg published an article called "The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans," which detailed a Signal group chat that he was added to seemingly by members of President Donald Trump's administration, most notably Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. The group was called "Houthi PC small group" and Goldberg was added to it by a "Michael Waltz" on March 11th.

Multiple high-ranking officials from Trump's White House were apparently in the chat, including Vice President J.D. Vance and Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence.

On March 15th, the account seemingly belonging to Pete Hegseth sent a lengthy text that detailed bombings in Yemen set to take place in two hours. The bombings occurred as planned, leading Goldberg to believe that the Signal group chat was real and not a hoax. Goldberg embedded a screenshot from the group showing the members celebrating the attack, including a message from Michael Waltz that read, "👊 🇺🇸 🔥." Goldberg left the chat shortly after.

Online Reactions

On March 24th, 2025, X^[2] user @JonLemire tweeted a link to the Atlantic article, receiving over 25.2 million views and 89,000 likes in a day.

The tweet inspired viral reactions in the following hours. For instance, on March 24th, X^[3] user @Osinttechnical quote tweeted the post, claiming, "This is possibly the most insane national security story in the last 50 years," gaining over 20.1 million views and 169,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Memes about the story also started to surface that day, like a tweet shared by X^[4] user @PeterTwinklage on March 24th, 2025, who used the Couple Texting in Bed format to show Jeffery Goldberg and Pete Hegseth messaging in the chat, amassing over 23,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Also on March 24th, X^[5] @jameslineky tweeted a screenshot of the emoji text (👊 🇺🇸 🔥) allegedly sent by Michael Waltz, captioning it, "If I send you this it means a reporter is in the group chat," receiving over 53,000 likes in a day (shown below).

On March 25th, 2025, Redditor^[6] Spatenmax shared a meme to the subreddit /r/dankmemes, referencing President Nixon's Watergate scandal and Omni-Man's "Pathetic" quote, gaining over 1,600 upvotes in a few hours (shown below).

Others reacted to Goldberg leaving the group chat shortly after the war plans were seemingly leaked. For instance, on March 24th, X^[7] user @GrimKim questioned Goldberg's decision, writing, "Imagine being given a secret front row seat to the inner workings of an authoritarian regime led by the worst people alive and then hurriedly removing yourself because it’s not 'appropriate,'" receiving over 86,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Various Reactions

Developments

Pete Hegseth's Response

On March 24th, 2025, X^[8] user @Acyn shared a clip from Fox News of reporters questioning Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on the Atlantic's article and Jeffery Goldberg's claim. Hegseth denied the claims, initially stating, "So you are talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who has made a profession of peddling hoaxes."

Reporter: Can you share how your information about war plans was shared with a journalist? Hegseth: So you are talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who has made a profession of peddling hoaxes pic.twitter.com/JXegFXbdpP

— Acyn (@Acyn) March 24, 2025

Search Interest

External References