Trump refuses to fire anyone linked to Signal group chat leak, deems it a 'witch hunt' and 'fake news'

WASHINGTON, DC: Donald Trump is defending his inner circle after a major security slip-up involving the Signal group chat about the US airstrikes in Yemen.

The President also managed to throw in some casual talk about annexing Greenland and his “couldn’t care less” stance on auto tariffs.  

Donald Trump's stance on the Signal group chat leak

It all started when National Security Adviser Michael Waltz made what could go down as one of the most embarrassing tech blunders in history—accidentally adding The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a classified group chat on Signal.

The chat was discussing planned US airstrikes on Iranian-backed Houthi militias in Yemen.

The mistake led to a frenzy in Washington, DC, with reports claiming that Trump was considering firing Waltz amid the fallout. The New York Times claimed Trump had spent most of the week debating whether to axe his national security adviser over the slip-up.

In an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker, however, Trump made it clear that he’s not firing anyone. "I don’t fire people because of fake news and because of witch hunts," Trump declared.

Welker pressed him on whether he still had confidence in Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was also in the Signal group chat.

"I do," he confirmed. "I think it's just a witch hunt, and the fake news, like you, talk about it all the time, but it's just a witch hunt, and it shouldn't be talked [about]. We had a tremendously successful strike. We struck very hard and very lethal. And nobody wants to talk about that. All they want to talk about is nonsense. It's fake news," Trump added. 

Donald Trump confident about acquiring Greenland

Donald Trump also revived his obsession with Greenland during the interview, just a day after Vice President JD Vance visited an American military base on the island.

For those who don’t remember, Trump first floated buying Greenland from Denmark back in 2019, and it was met with a global eye roll. But now it seems he’s doubling down on his stance.

"We'll get Greenland. Yeah, 100%," Trump confidently told Welker.

And just in case anyone thought he was bluffing, he added, "There's a good possibility that we could do it without military force… but I don't take anything off the table."

When asked how a US takeover of Greenland might be perceived by the rest of the world, Trump didn’t even pretend to care.

"I don’t really think about that; I don’t really care," he shrugged.

Donald Trump on raising auto tariffs

Donald Trump also weighed in on the massive auto tariffs his administration is about to unleash.

Starting April 3, Trump is slapping a 25% import tariff on all cars and light trucks made outside the US, along with higher tariffs on auto parts.

Considering nearly half of all cars sold in the US are imported and 60% of parts used in American-made vehicles come from abroad, the move is expected to drive up car prices. 

But when asked about it, Trump said he doesn’t care.

"I couldn't care less. I hope they raise their prices, because if they do, people are gonna buy American-made cars. We have plenty," he insisted.

And as for reports that he warned auto execs not to hike prices, Trump flat-out denied it.

"No, I never said that," he declared.