Who is Jeffery Goldberg? The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief who was inadvertently sent war plans by Trump administration officials

On Monday afternoon, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, published an article reporting that he had been added to a Signal group chat with Trump administration officials, including Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who had invited the journalist to the chat.

The use of Signal for these conversations raises concerns about the security of private discussions among administration officials taking place outside federal servers. The issue of non-government servers was a major talking point during Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign when Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server was cast as criminal.

At first, Goldberg doubted the authenticity of the group chat, but he continued monitoring messages—including discussions of war plans for strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, intended to reopen trade routes in the Red Sea. These plans were sent by Secretary Hegseth, and it wasn’t until the bombs started falling that Goldberg realized the chat was more than an elaborate prank.

Goldberg’s inclusion in the group raises questions about his proximity to administration officials like Waltz. Notably, the journalist has not always written favorably about the president and his leadership.

Goldberg has served as The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief since 2016 and previously worked at The Washington Post and The New Yorker. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Goldberg attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he began his career in the press, serving as the editor in editor-in-chief of The Daily Pennsylvanian.

In 2002, he famously published an article in support of the invasion of Iraq, arguing for the removal of Saddam Hussein and suggesting ties between the Iraqi leader and Al Qaeda.

Goldberg’s coverage of President Trump

In 2020, Goldberg published an article titled “Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’,” in which he reported that President Trump had refused to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial in France—where more than 2,200 U.S. World War I soldiers are buried—allegedly dismissing it as “filled with losers.” This claim echoed comments Trump made on the campaign trail in July 2015 about Arizona Senator John McCain, who was captured and held as a prisoner of war. The then-presidential candidate told CBS pollster Frank Luntz, that he preferred people who weren't captured and implied, before backtracking that he did not see McCain as a war hero.

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