Jesse Watters says safety breach is not any worse than including your aunt to a gaggle about ‘raunchy plans for the bachelor party’
Fox News host Jesse Watters appeared unmoved by national security officials accidentally disclosing information about a military attack to the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic in a group chat, likening the incident to inadvertently adding a family member to a group chat about “raunchy” bachelor party plans.
In a minute-long segment on Jesse Watters Primetime Monday evening, the Fox News host asked viewers if they had ever made the mistake of texting the wrong person.
“Do you ever try start a group text, you’re adding people and you accidentally add the wrong person? All of the sudden, your Aunt Mary knows all of your raunchy plans for the bachelor party,” Watters said.
“Well, that kind of happened today with the Trump administration,” he added.
Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, revealed on Monday that he had accidentally been added to a group chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.
The group chat included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, other cabinet members and senior White House staff. In it, the officials disclosed plans of a U.S. military attack on Houthi militants in Yemen two hours before they occurred.
“He heard some things he probably shouldn’t have,” Watters told his audience. “Could’ve been a wee bit of a security breach.”
Watters downplayed the incident, comparing it to Hillary Clinton’s email scandal and former president Joe Biden’s classified documents incident.
Goldberg said he removed himself from the group chat after realizing it was real and contained sensitive national security information. The White House insists, “no ‘war plans’ were discussed” and “no classified material was sent to the thread” – something Goldberg disputes.
Lawmakers have raised significant concerns about government officials using Signal to share information about a U.S. military operation and accidentally adding a journalist to the group chat.
The White House said its counsel office has provided the administration guidance on utilizing communication platforms safely and effectively.
Watters host also attempted to discredit Goldberg, calling him “not a good reporter” and “one of the biggest hoax artists around.”
Goldberg provided screenshots of the Signal group chat in his report. A spokesperson for the National Security Council confirmed the message threat appeared “authentic” and they were reviewing the incident.
“I’m sure it won’t happen again,” Watters contended.
Source: independent.co.uk
