Pete Hegseth slammed for going scorched earth on The Atlantic journalist over alleged war plan leak

WASHINGTON, DC: Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth appears to be in damage control mode after a journalist from The Atlantic got accidentally added to what was supposed to be a top-secret group chat about military strikes in Yemen.

According to the journalist, there were some seriously classified details flying around.

But Hegseth seems to be furious—not at the leak, but at the journalist Jeffrey Goldberg for daring to report on it. In his first appearance since the scandal broke, Hegseth took a page straight out of Trump’s playbook and launched a full-scale attack on the media.

Pete Hegseth snaps at reporter after group chat catastrophe

The whole mess started when National Security Adviser Mike Waltz convened a Signal group chat. That is an encrypted messaging app, usually reserved for high-stakes private conversations. Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief and a well-known DC journalist, somehow got added to the chat.

And we’re not talking about some minor Pentagon interns gossiping about office drama. This chat included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, a CIA representative, Trump’s senior adviser Stephen Miller, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.

This was as high-level as it gets, and somehow Goldberg was sitting right there, reading everything.

When Hegseth finally resurfaced after a flight to Hawaii, he came out swinging. "So you are talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who has made a profession of peddling hoaxes, time and time again," Hegseth fumed at a reporter asking related questions.

He then went on a scorched-earth rant against The Atlantic, calling out its history of publishing unfounded stories about Trump—including the infamous "suckers and losers" military insult scandal and their coverage of his alleged ties to Russia.

"This is a guy who peddles in garbage. This is what he does," Hegseth added.

Goldberg, in his Atlantic article, claimed that Hegseth literally texted him the military strike plan. "Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, had texted me the war plan at 11.44 am – about two hours before it happened on March 15th," he wrote.

But when a reporter pressed Hegseth about it, his response was rather curt: "I've heard how it was characterized. Nobody was texting war plans and that's all I have to say about that."

Meanwhile, the Pentagon wasn’t much of a help either. When asked for comment, their spokesperson basically shrugged and told the Daily Mail, "We do not have anything to offer beyond the Secretary’s remarks."

Donald Trump appears unaware of leak, slams The Atlantic

When Donald Trump was asked about the situation. "I don’t know anything about it," he said, in between hosting Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry at the White House.

But Trump wasted no time pivoting to an attack on The Atlantic instead of addressing whether his national security team just leaked war plans in a Signal chat.

"I’m not a big fan of The Atlantic, to me it’s a magazine that is going out of business. I think it’s not much of a magazine," he huffed.

Goldberg claims that some of the leaked material was so sensitive that The Atlantic chose not to publish it. But what they did publish was damning enough, including Vice President JD Vance allegedly arguing against striking the targets.

According to Goldberg, Hegseth’s leaked messages "contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing."

Internet slams Pete Hegseth for lashing out at The Atlantic

Of course, critics on social media dragged Pete Hegseth for ripping Jeffrey Goldberg after the story about the chat leak broke.

"This is our Secretary of Defense's reaction after a royal screwup? We can and must do better," one posted on X.

"It’s hard not to always think 'has he had a few drinks?'" another quipped.

"The others must be roasting Hegseth on the group chat after this," someone else added.

"I wonder if he can get his job back at @FoxNews," read a comment.

"A Secretary of Defense with this little regard for the truth and lack of willingness to be accountable is an extreme threat to our national security. He needs to go," another fumed.

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