PDB Afternoon Bulletin | April 7th, 2025: Revealed: How A Reporter Was Added To Yemen War Chat On Signal & Iran-Backed Militias Back Down

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Who is Mike Baker and what is the PDB Afternoon Bulletin?

Mike Baker 0:42
It's Monday, the 7th of April. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Alright, let's get briefed. We'll start things off with new revelations about that warplans chat group on Signal. Remember that? It was a bizarre story that captured the headlines for a few days.

How did Jeffrey Goldberg end up in the Signal warplans chat group?

Mike Baker 1:02
And then, much like everything else that happens in Washington, D.C., it disappeared from view. We're now learning how the Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg ended up in the chat about U.S. strikes in Yemen. It all traces back to a contact mix-up, an old campaign email, and one very unhelpful iPhone. Later in the show, several powerful Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq are reportedly prepared to disarm for the first time to avert the threat of an escalating conflict with the US Trump administration. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. We're finally learning the details of exactly how Atlantic Magazine Editor Jeffrey Goldberg wound up in a Signal Group Chat, where senior Trump administration officials were discussing upcoming military strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen. Und die Antwort ist, es war ein Kontakt-Liste-Mix-Up auf einem iPhone. Ja, natürlich war es das. Es ist ein sehr 2020er Fehler.
Mike Baker 2:06
Sprechend mit The Guardian in den USA, drei Gründer, die sich mit der internen Investition der White House kennengelernt haben, sagten, dass die Tafel für den Unfall im Oktober war, während der Präsidenten-Kampagne. Goldberg hatte die Trump-Kampagne e-mailt, über eine kritische Geschichte, die er geschrieben hatte, eine, die Trumps Ansprüche auf schmerzhafte Serviceleute beantwortete.

What caused the contact mix-up that added Jeffrey Goldberg to the chat?

Mike Baker 2:26
In response, the campaign brought in Congressman Mike Waltz, a national security surrogate, to push back. Now, here's where it gets, let's call it unusual. Goldberg's email, which included his signature block and phone number, you know how emails do sometimes, was forwarded to Waltz by Trump-Campaign-Spokesman Brian Hughes, who just copied and pasted the whole thing into a text. Okay, Waltz never called Goldberg, but somehow, likely due to his iPhone's contact suggestion algorithm, Goldberg's number was saved under Hughes' contact card. It's always the algorithm, isn't it? Fast forward to March. Waltz, now Trump's national security advisor, goes to create a signal group chat called... Houthi PC Small Group, to coordinate with top officials about US military action in Yemen. And a crazy coincidence, I also have a chat group called Houthi PC Small Group. You think, what are the odds? So Waltz meant to add Hughes, but thanks to the contact card mix-up months earlier, well, he added Jeffrey Goldberg instead. Und wie sie sagen, der Rest ist Geschichte.
Mike Baker 3:38
Der Editor von The Atlantic wurde plötzlich auf hohen Niveau an sensiblen Gesprächen über zukünftige US-Militärestrecken auf einer unbeklagten Messungsapp eingeladen. Laut Berichten war Trump furchtbar, als die Geschichte brach, aber nicht nur wegen der Sicherheitsbedürfnisse. What really ticked him off? Well, apparently it was that Goldberg, editor of a magazine that Trump openly loathes, was in Waltz's phone at all. Trump reportedly considered firing Waltz, but ultimately decided against it, partly to avoid the optics of a media-driven firing just weeks into his second term, and partly because the White House's internal review showed that it really was just an accident, an embarrassing bureaucratic digital age blunder. Das selbe Review hat einen Forensik-Audit von der IT-Familie durchgeführt.

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