Waltz says that it was he who created the group and that none of his employees should be blamed for the mistake.
We made a mistake. Now we're moving on, he says.
The magazine The Atlantic reported on Monday how its editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was suddenly invited to a group chat where ministers and top officials discussed military attacks on Yemen. That the conversation was real was confirmed when the plans were carried out and the US military, in accordance with the timetable discussed, launched airstrikes against Yemen.
The idea was that another person, whom Mike Waltz does not want to identify, would be part of the chat. But Goldberg's number was mistakenly saved under the other person's name in Waltz's phone, says the security adviser. He cannot explain how the number could have been saved there.
I've never met him, I don't think I've ever communicated with him, he says, adding that IT experts are trying to figure out how it all could have happened.
Mike Waltz accuses Jeffrey Goldberg of being anti-Trump, calls him "the bottom of the barrel among journalists" and suggests that there is some kind of foul play behind Goldberg being added to the group chat.
I'm no conspiracy theorist, but of all people in the world, it's somehow this guy who ends up there, he says to Fox News.
"Attempts to downplay and discredit The Atlantic, our editor-in-chief, and our reporting follow an obvious tactic of elected politicians and others in power positions who are hostile to journalists", writes The Atlantic in a statement in response to Fox News' broadcast.
