President Donald Trump has personally called for a judge's impeachment
U.S. President Donald Trump said he was unaware of Yemen-related discussions some of his top cabinet officials held on Signal, a commercial messaging app. AFP

KEY POINTS

  • The White House has since confirmed that it was reviewing how the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic was "inadvertently" added to the group chat
  • Trump told reporters Monday night that he knew "nothing" about the matter and was only learning about it "for the first time" at the press briefing
  • X users were frustrated about the incident, with some raising questions on whether Trump was in the loop on such critical discussions

Users on Elon Musk-owned X (formerly Twitter) are criticizing President Donald Trump after he revealed he had no idea some of his cabinet officials used messaging app Signal to discuss sensitive war-related topics within a group chat where The Atlantic's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertently added.

Trump officials discussed strikes against Yemeni Houthi rebels in a Signal group chat, raising concerns about whether there was a breach of national security in the use of a free and open-source app to discuss such highly sensitive matters.

The White House has since confirmed the issue, with National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes saying Goldber's report about having been added into the group chat "appears to be authentic," and that the Trump government was reviewing "how an inadvertent number was added to the chain."

Goldberg raises concern

On Radio Atlantic, Goldberg discussed the incident in more detail, revealing how he was "added to this group," but that wasn't even the main issue.

"But the larger point is that why is this conversation happening out in the open?" he said, adding that while Signal is end-to-end encrypted, it still is "a commercial texting service" that should not be used to talk about U.S. plans on attacking Houthis.

He said such channels for communication can bring in "a Houthi for all you know."

Trump says he knows nothing of the chat

In a press briefing at the Roosevelt Room on Monday night, the U.S. president was asked to comment on The Atlantic's report on the issue.

"I don't know anything about it," he responded, before he proceeded to attack the magazine, saying he isn't a big fan of The Atlantic, and describing it as "a magazine that's going out of business."

When pressed further on his top cabinet officials' use of the Signal app to strategize on Houthi attacks, he said, "I don't know anything about it. You're telling me about it for the first time."

Trump's comments trigger outrage

"Yemen" has become a trending topic on Musk's social media platform overnight as X users dissected Goldberg's account of the incident and concerns about American national security increased.

One user said if Trump wasn't aware of a major incident involving some of his cabinet's top officials, "then who exactly is running the government?"

"The president isn't taking a breach of national security, by his own cabinet, seriously," another said, noting that it is "the takeaway" from the debacle.

"That whole Signal discussion showed how out of the loop Trump is," said another, adding that it only highlighted how many of the decisions around the White House were "made by others" and the president only "nods when he hears about it later."

Trump has yet to address concerns that he may just be agreeing to some things his cabinet officials already made a decision on.

Read more