White House didn’t want texts released
Prior to running its follow-up article, The Atlantic asked Trump administration officials if they objected to publishing the full texts. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt emailed a response:
As we have repeatedly stated, there was no classified information transmitted in the group chat. However, as the CIA Director and National Security Advisor have both expressed today, that does not mean we encourage the release of the conversation. This was intended to be a an [sic] internal and private deliberation amongst high-level senior staff and sensitive information was discussed. So for those reason [sic]—yes, we object to the release.”
Obviously, The Atlantic moved ahead with publishing the texts. “The Leavitt statement did not address which elements of the texts the White House considered sensitive, or how, more than a week after the initial air strikes, their publication could have bearing on national security,” the article said.
On Monday, the National Security Council said it was “reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain.” Trump publicly supported Waltz after the incident, but Politico reported that “Trump was mad—and suspicious—that Waltz had Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg’s number saved in his phone in the first place.” One of Politico’s anonymous sources was quoted as saying, “The president was pissed that Waltz could be so stupid.”
Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said the committee will investigate, according to The Hill. “We’re going to look into this and see what the facts are, but it’s definitely a concern. And you can be sure the committee, House and Senate, will be looking into this… And it appears that mistakes were made, no question,” he said.
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