But the president said that it ’may be forced to use it’ in the future.
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that government officials likely won’t be using the Signal messaging app after The Atlantic magazine editor-in-chief was inadvertently included in a group chat with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and national security adviser Mike Waltz.
When asked about the Signal chat during remarks at the White House on Tuesday, Trump responded: “A lot of times you find out defects by exactly things like that, but I don’t think it’s something we’re looking forward to using again.
“We may be forced to use it. You may be in a situation where you need speed as opposed to gross safety, and you may be forced to use it, but generally speaking, I think we probably won’t be using it very much.”
The fallout came after The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg alleged he saw a discussion between Hegseth and the other officials take place in a group chat he was added to in the Signal messaging app hours before strikes against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen ordered by Trump earlier this month. The National Security Council has since said the text chain Goldberg reported “appears to be authentic” and that it was looking into how a journalist’s number was added to the chain.
Hegseth spoke to reporters in Hawaii on Monday and disputed Goldberg’s account, insisting that no war plans were texted in the chat. He also raised questions about Goldberg’s credibility. Goldberg later told MSNBC that his article published in The Atlantic about the group chat was based on what he saw in the Signal chat and accused Hegseth of trying to deflect from the allegations.
Signal uses end-to-end encryption for its messaging and calling services, which prevents any third party from viewing conversation content or listening in on calls. It’s considered a popular app for direct messaging, group chats, phone calls, and video calls.
When asked about the use of the chat app, Trump said that he “wasn’t involved” but only “heard about it.”
