White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Wednesday sharply criticized The Wall Street Journal for a report claiming Trump peace envoy Steve Witkoff used the Signal app insecurely in Moscow.
In an X post at 10:56 a.m. EDT, Leavitt called it “Fake News,” asserting Witkoff used a secure government phone, not a personal device, and accused the Journal of failing to verify facts.
At a 1:30 p.m. EDT press briefing, she reiterated her stance, defending Signal’s use in a separate leaked chat among officials, denying classified breaches, and slamming the Journal for bias.
The context for her remarks stemmed from a leaked Signal group chat involving senior Trump administration officials, including National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which had inadvertently included The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.
The chat, discussing plans for a U.S. strike on Yemen’s Houthi rebels, had sparked concerns about the use of a commercial app for sensitive policy discussions. When pressed about whether classified information was shared in the chat and how Witkoff’s Moscow communications fit into this narrative, Leavitt dismissed the Journal’s reporting as “erroneous.”
She asserted that “no classified information was discussed in this chat” and that Witkoff used secure, government-issued lines exclusively during his trip. She emphasized that Signal, an encrypted app, is approved for government use, framing it as a safe and efficient tool when officials cannot meet in secure facilities like a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility).
The clash reflects ongoing White House-media tensions.
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