Hillary Clinton on war plans leak: ‘You've got to be kidding me’

Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton shared her surprise Monday about a report from The Atlantic's editor, who said he was swept up in a text message chain with top Trump administration officials on plans for an attack on Houthi rebels.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Clinton said on X, sharing the eyes emoji along with The Atlantic article.

Clinton’s use of a private server for classified emails while she was President Obama’s secretary of State was a major issue in the 2016 campaign. She was criticized by Trump and his supporters consistently on it.

Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, wrote Monday that he was invited to a group chat on Signal in which top officials debated and then discussed details of attacks in Yemen earlier this month.

Trump said he knew nothing on the report after Brian Hughes, the spokesman for the National Security Council, confirmed the message chain was authentic.

Goldberg, in the article, claimed national security adviser Mike Waltz connected with him on Signal on March 11 and two days later was invited to join a chat called the “Houthi PC small group,” seemingly unaware of his presence.

The president and his team have said on Monday that the attack on the Houthis was successful, in response to the report that included screenshots from the Signal group.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly sent the group details on weapons used, targets, and timing two hours ahead of the attacks that began on March 15, and other top officials including Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe also wrote in it.

“As President Trump said, the attacks on the Houthis have been highly successful and effective. President Trump continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team, including National Security Advisor Mike Waltz,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an emailed statement.

In 2016, the FBI investigated Clinton’s emails and then-director James Comey found evidence that Clinton was “extremely careless” using a private server but that her actions were not enough to merit an indictment. She was named the Democratic Party’s nominee later that month and then loss to Trump.

A total of 113 emails from Clinton’s email contained information that was classified at the time they were sent or received, Comey found, and another roughly 2,000 emails were classified later.