Fact Checking Pete Hegseth’s False Statement that Nobody was Texting War Plans

Captain Thane Clare, USN (Ret) PolitiFact March 26, 2025

Standing on a Hawaii runway, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a reporter March 24, "Nobody was texting war plans, and that's all I have to say about that." The next day, he repeated the statement. 

The Trump administration’s Signal group texts told a different story. 

On March 24, The Atlantic magazine Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg detailed how he was accidentally added to a group chat on the messaging app Signal with senior Trump administration officials discussing an impending airstrike on U.S. adversaries in Yemen. 

In the initial story, Goldberg said the "war plans" he received in the chat mentioned "precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing." Goldberg did not include detailed messages about the military strikes because of his concerns about publishing sensitive security information. 

The National Security Council confirmed the authenticity of the thread and said it would review how Goldberg’s number was added to the chain.

Following White House and Hegseth denials that "war plans" were discussed, The Atlantic  published the full text thread. The messages released March 26 show Hegseth sent information about when aircraft and drones would launch, when bombs would drop and the expected movement of targets.