President Donald Trump will sit down for an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of The Atlantic, who broke the “SignalGate” story after being improperly added to a group chat with senior government officials.
According to Trump, their story will be titled, “The Most Consequential President of This Century.”
Trump identified Goldberg as “the person responsible for many fictional stories” about him, including the claim that he disparaged fallen American soldiers as “suckers” and “losers.”
Trump has vociferously denied that claim since The Atlantic first published it in 2020.
The president also noted Goldberg’s recent story on the Signal chat controversy as “something he was somewhat more ‘successful’ with.”
Goldberg’s March 24 report on his inclusion in the text chat about looming U.S. airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels sparked a firestorm and calls for senior officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, to step down.
The White House downplayed the significance of the exchange.
Trump nevertheless granted the interview “out of curiosity, and as a competition with myself, just to see if it’s possible for The Atlantic to be ‘truthful,’” he wrote.
“Are they capable of writing a fair story on ‘TRUMP’? The way I look at it, what can be so bad—I WON!” he said.
The interview comes amid reports of a second Signal chat in which similar information was allegedly shared with Hegseth’s wife, brother, and personal attorney.
“What a big surprise that a few leakers get fired and suddenly a bunch of hit pieces come out from the same media that peddled the Russia hoax,” Hegseth said, referencing three former Pentagon officials who were placed on leave on April 15 and April 16.
The White House has attributed the ex-employees’ firings to their leaks of sensitive information to the press.
“It’s been clear since Day 1 from this administration that we are not going to tolerate individuals who leak to the mainstream media, particularly when it comes to sensitive information,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on April 22.
She also reaffirmed the president’s support for Hegseth amid renewed calls for his resignation.
“The president stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth and the change he is bringing to the Pentagon, and the results that he has achieved thus far speak for themselves,” Leavitt said.
