The investigation seeks to uncover how The Atlantic’s editor accessed a sensitive Signal chat with top U.S. security officials.
The White House said Wednesday that Elon Musk is now involved in the high-profile investigation into how the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, was inadvertently added to a Signal group chat with top U.S. national security officials, amid ongoing scrutiny over the potential exposure of sensitive military discussions.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Musk’s participation during a March 26 briefing when asked who was leading the probe into the Signal mishap.
🚨 JUST IN: Karoline Leavitt announced Elon Musk and his team will be investigating how a fake news reporter was added to the Signal group
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) March 26, 2025
“Elon Musk has offered to put his technical experts on this… to ensure it never happens again.”
If this was a setup, Elon’s about to blow… pic.twitter.com/IcAehYiRsG
“The National Security Council, the White House Counsel’s Office, and also yes, Elon Musk’s team,” Leavitt said. “Elon Musk has offered to put his technical experts on this to figure out how this number was inadvertently added to the chat, again to take responsibility and ensure this can never happen again.”
The group chat, titled “Houthi PC small group,” included senior Trump administration officials, including national security adviser Mike Waltz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and others.
According to Goldberg’s March 24 article, he was added to the Signal thread on March 13—two days before the United States launched renewed airstrikes on Iran-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen.
In his account, Goldberg said he observed messages discussing strike timing, weapon platforms like F-18 fighter jets and MQ-9 Reaper drones, and other operational planning elements. He also said one user, allegedly Hegseth, shared a timestamp for the drone strike launch.
Goldberg said he chose not to disclose certain details—including the name of a CIA employee allegedly mentioned in the chat—out of concern for sensitive information. A National Security Council spokesman later told The Epoch Times that the conversation Goldberg described in his article “appears to be authentic.”
Waltz said on Fox News on Tuesday that he takes “full responsibility” for the leak, admitting he created the Signal group. “A staffer wasn’t responsible,” Waltz said. “My job is to make sure everything’s coordinated.”
While Waltz initially suggested the addition of Goldberg might have been due to a contact mix-up, he said he had never met Goldberg and didn’t know how his number appeared in his phone.
“I can tell you 100 percent I don’t know this guy. I know him by his horrible reputation,” he said, referring to The Atlantic’s previous reporting on President Donald Trump. “And I know him in the sense that he hates the president, but I don’t text him.”
By Tom Ozimek
