President Donald Trump said he has no plans to fire anyone over the Signal national security group chat incident, addressing the issue in a phone interview with NBC News on Saturday. “I don’t fire people because of fake news and witch hunts,” Trump told the network during the brief conversation.
On Monday, The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg revealed that he was accidentally added to a national security group chat where senior Trump administration officials were discussing airstrikes in Yemen. The March 15 chat included key figures such as Vice President J.D. Vance, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and other members of President Trump’s inner circle.
Asked by NBC News on Saturday if he still has confidence in Hegseth and Waltz, Trump replied: “I do.” Continuing, Trump added: “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].” He added: “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 has consistently stated that he is not familiar with the Signal app when asked about whether his team should have used it. “I have no idea what Signal is. I don’t care what Signal is,” Trump said again Saturday. “All I can tell you is it’s just a witch hunt, and it’s the only thing the press wants to talk about, because you have nothing else to talk about. Because it’s been the greatest 100-day presidency in the history of our country.”
The White House confirmed Monday that the group chat appears to be authentic but maintained that no classified information was shared. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth dismissed claims that “war plans” were discussed, and the Trump administration has pushed back hard, framing The Atlantic as a liberal, anti-Trump outlet and labeling reporter Jeffrey Goldberg as a partisan “hack.”
“The National Security Advisor has taken responsibility for this matter, and the National Security Council immediately said alongside the White House Counsel’s Office that they are looking into how a reporter’s number was inadvertently added to this messaging thread,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said this week. “We have said all along that no classified material was sent on this messaging thread. There were no locations, no sources or methods revealed, and there were certainly no war plans discussed.”
