Jimmy Kimmel mocks Trump’s officials as ‘guys you wouldn’t trust with a surprise party’ after chat leak
WASHINGTON, DC: Imagine getting randomly added to a top-secret government chat where officials are actively planning a military strike.
That's exactly what happened to The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg.
Goldberg dropped a jaw-dropping report on Monday, March 24, detailing how he was accidentally invited to a group chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal—where President Donald Trump's senior administration officials were discussing classified military plans.
Naturally, Jimmy Kimmel had some thoughts about it.
Jimmy Kimmel roasts Donald Trump's team
Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel couldn’t contain his amusement that Monday night on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!'
“The Trump administration accidentally texted me its war plans," he began, before breaking down the bizarre mix-up for his audience.
“So two weeks ago, Trump’s National Security Adviser, Michael Waltz, inadvertently invited the editor-in-chief at the Atlantic, a guy named Jeffrey Goldberg, to join a group chat on Signal, the messaging app,” Kimmel said.
“Next thing Goldberg knows, he’s on a chain with the Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, the head of the CIA, and Vice President JD Vance, as they hashed out secret plans for a military strike on the Houthis, which is a terrorist group in Yemen," the host continued.
“So he’s watching this chain go back and forth detailing the logistics and the specifics of a military strike. And he thought somebody was trying to fool him. He thought his information, turned out it was just a bunch of fools because the strikes started happening exactly as described in the text,” Kimmel went on.
“In other words, our national security is being guarded by a bunch of dudes you wouldn’t trust to throw your cousin a surprise party," he continued.
“No one on the chain thought to ask, who is ‘JG,’ what are these initials for? All they could have been leaking secrets to Jeff Goldblum for all they know,” Kimmel went on. “And not only did this happen, after it happened, no one thought to tell Trump," he joked, as quoted by The Wrap.
What actually went down in the chat?
According to Jeffrey Goldberg’s bombshell report, the accidental invitation happened on March 13. In the chat, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz told his deputy, Alex Wong, to put together a “tiger team” to coordinate US action against the Houthis. The National Security Council later confirmed the chat was real.
Just two days later, on March 15, Trump officially launched a massive military strike against the Houthis in Yemen in response to their attacks on Red Sea shipping. And in what Goldberg described as a “shockingly reckless” move, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had posted operational details in the chat beforehand—including targets, weaponry, and attack sequencing.
The list of people in the chat was a who’s who of Trump’s inner circle, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and various top National Security Council officials, per Reuters.
Furthermore, Trump’s nominee for National Counterterrorism Center director, Joe Kent, was also in the chat—even though he hasn't been confirmed by the Senate yet.
When the press asked Trump about the situation, he said he had no idea about it.
“I don’t know anything about it. I’m not a big fan of The Atlantic,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
But a White House official later admitted that an investigation was already underway and that Trump had finally been briefed.
