White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News host Jesse Watters that the “real story” of the bombshell text leak is that “the American people should be grateful” to the “competent” team on that group chat.
The political media world was stunned Monday when Jeffrey Goldberg dropped a blockbuster report that revealed he was (apparently inadvertently) included in a text chain in which the Principals Committee discussed plans to strike Houthi rebels in Yemen — strikes that shortly came to pass. Trump National Security Adviser Mike Waltz is the official who accidentally added Goldberg to the chat on the Signal app.
Among the Trump administration’s responses has been the claim that the information on the texts was not classified, that Goldberg somehow tricked Waltz, or even hacked his way in, or that a lower-level staffer is “somehow” responsible.
On Tuesday night’s edition of Jesse Watters Primetime, Leavitt floated the idea that the texts demonstrate a “competent” team that is worthy of thanks:
JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt joins me now.
So, does the president have full confidence in his national security team?
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: President Trump absolutely has the full confidence in his national security team, Jesse. That includes our great national security adviser, Mike Waltz, Secretary Pete Hegseth. And the American people should be grateful to these individuals, and especially to President Trump, for putting together such a competent and highly qualified team who are killing terrorists that the Biden administration allowed to run wild in the Middle East. And that is the real story here. We had Houthi terrorists firing at American Naval ships and commercial vessels in the Red Sea. The Biden administration removed the foreign terrorist designation from this radical terrorist group, allowed them to take these actions, put American lives at risk, shut down the freedom of navigation in the seas. And because of the effort of my colleagues and President Trump, we are now killing these terrorists. We have redesignated them as a foreign terrorist organization, and Americans and the world are safer because of it.
WATTERS: So it’s kind of strange that, of all people, Jeffrey Goldberg entered this chat. Could have been an accident on your team’s side, but it also could have been something a little more mischievous on Goldberg’s side, as you heard Waltz say. What do you think about this character?
Watch above via Jesse Watters Primetime.
The post Trump Spox Says ‘Real Story’ of Disastrous Leak Is That ‘The American People Should Be Grateful’ for Team That Leaked first appeared on Mediaite.
