US President Donald Trump on Tuesday dismissed the accidental addition of a journalist to a group chat about Yemen airstrikes as a “glitch” and stood by his top national security team despite the stunning breach.

Trump’s administration faces mounting pressure following a report on Monday by The Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg about the conversation on the Signal encrypted messaging app, but the US president told broadcaster NBC in a phone interview that he will not fire National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, the senior aide responsible.

The chat about attacks on Iran-backed Houthi rebels involved some of the administration’s most senior officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, and Waltz.

Trump, who returned to the White House in January, told NBC that the breach was “the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one.”

The president added that Waltz, his top security official in the White House, “has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man.”

Goldberg said he had received a connection request from a user identified as Michael Waltz on Signal. Trump said, however, that “it was one of Michael’s people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there.”

Trump also told NBC that the slip-up had “no impact at all” on military operations against the Houthis. He said he has confidence in his team, with this being “the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one.”

Trump and Waltz spoke Monday when Goldberg published the story, two officials told NBC.

The White House had earlier pushed back more forcefully on day two of the scandal, after confirming the breach on Monday.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X on Tuesday that “no........

© The Times of Israel