Former national security adviser John Bolton said it was “stunning” that none of the Trump administration officials on a war planning group chat suggested they not use Signal.
Bolton joined NewsNation’s Leland Vittert just hours after the news broke that The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was added to the planning text chain for the attack on Yemen’s Houthis earlier this month.
“It’s just stunning to me. I was without words when I first heard this,” Bolton said, adding he was shocked “they were using Signal at all.”
Bolton, who served under President Trump’s first administration, said he barely uses the encrypted messaging platform now, but “certainly” never used it when he was in the government.
The former national security adviser, like Goldberg, noted that there are “extraordinarily expensive” classified communication systems for the top administration officials.
Shock spread across Washington on Monday after it was revealed that national security adviser Mike Waltz had apparently invited Goldberg to a group chat, which also included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President Vance and others.
Hegseth reportedly sent the group classified details including weapons, targets and timing for the attacks, which began on March 17. The move has drawn sharp criticism from Democrats and commitments from Republicans to find out what happened.
On Monday, Bolton expressed concern that the top officials were using Signal, noting that it’s not “equivalent” to the government’s secure telecommunications.
“You’re supposed to have official communications especially involving classified information over the governments’ own lines,” he said. “These are not people who don’t have access to that, these are the very top people.”
“In fact, what’s stunning is that this thing went on for days and not a single member of that group said, ‘you know, maybe we ought to get off Signal,’” Bolton added.
