As the Trump administration faces fallout over top-level officials’ use of the Signal app to discuss sensitive military plans and the accidental inclusion of a journalist on their group text chain, The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board has highlighted deeper insight into discussions involving members of President Trump’s inner circle.
“The news is that the characters played to their public type,” the editorial board wrote in a piece published Tuesday. “National-security adviser Mike Waltz was a voice for U.S. leadership — and for carrying out the President’s policy. Vice President JD Vance was a voice for U.S. retreat even when Mr. Trump directed otherwise.”
The editorial board also noted that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has been accused of sharing sensitive details about the plans, backed Waltz’s position.
Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic and a longtime foreign affairs correspondent, reported Monday that he had been inadvertently included in correspondence through Signal, an encrypted messaging app, where Vance, Waltz, Hegseth and others discussed plans for an attack on Houthi targets in Yemen hours before it took place on March 15.
The plan was deemed a successful military operation. Goldberg had not yet exposed the Signal discussion.
“Our brave Warfighters are right now carrying out aerial attacks on the terrorists’ bases, leaders, and missile defenses to protect American shipping, air, and naval assets, and to restore Navigational Freedom,” Trump wrote on Truth Social after the attack was underway. “No terrorist force will stop American commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing the Waterways of the World.”
Vance voiced reservations about Trump’s approved plan of attack during the Signal discussion, while Hegseth and Waltz stressed the need for imminent action.
“The President’s policy carried the day,” The Wall Street Journal board concluded. “Mr. Trump now knows which of his deputies tried to block it and which tried to carry it out.”
Vance wrote at one point in the chat that he thought the looming airstrike was “a mistake,” noting that European countries depend more on trade via the Suez Canal that connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, where the Houthis have been attacking ships and blocking access.
“I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now,” Vance wrote, pointing out it could cause a “moderate to severe spike in oil prices.”
“There is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc.,” he added.
The vice president ultimately acquiesced to the group.
“I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself,” he wrote.
Vance’s office has since denied any disagreement between the president and vice president over the plan, telling Goldberg that Vance “unequivocally supports this administration’s foreign policy” and that Vance had “subsequent conversations” with Trump and the two “are in complete agreement.”
