The use of emojis in a leaked Trump administration group chat discussing strikes on Houthi targets has sparked outrage, with accusations that officials made light of the sensitive topics being discussed.
Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic magazine, revealed on Monday that Trump’s national security advisor Michael Waltz had – seemingly inadvertently – added him to a group chat called ‘Houthi PC small group’.
The chat appears to have served as a virtual war room for some of the President’s top team, including Waltz, Vice President JD Vance, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard and Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles.
Goldberg said that Hegseth shared the war plan with the group at 11.44am eastern time on Saturday March 15, two hours before the bombs began dropping on Yemen.
As news broke of the strikes, the journalist checked the group chat where he found a flurry of emojis and congratulations flooding the text chain.
Waltz updated the group at 1.48pm, saying the operation had been an ‘amazing job’ before sending three emojis a few minutes later – a fist, an American flag, and fire.
Parts of the exchange have since been published, and have been met with furious reaction from politicians on both sides and the public, with many expressing disbelief that such a significant security breach could have been allowed to happen.
‘Classified details leaked while officials celebrated with fist emojis,’ one X user said. ‘The emojis are sickening,’ wrote another, adding that it shows a ‘lack of respect’ following the attack on Yemen.
The chat appears to have served as a virtual war room for some of Trump’s top team, including Waltz, Vice President JD Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth (pictured together)
Goldberg said that Hegseth shared ‘the war plan’ with the group at 11.44 am eastern time on Saturday March 15, two hours before the bombs began dropping on Yemen
Meanwhile German political commentator Nikolaus Blome wrote on the platform: ‘Emojis, puberty outbursts, and amateurish war plans: The banality of stupidity.’
‘Mike Waltz using emojis in a National Security/War strategy group chat like he’s a 14 year-old,’ another person commented.
Waltz was not the only official to use emojis in the already infamous group chat, according to the Atlantic.
Responding to the news of the strikes, the account named ‘MAR’ – seemingly belonging to Marco Rubio – wrote: ‘Good Job Pete and your team!!’
Another account under Susie Wiles’ name then texted: ‘Kudos to all – most particularly those in theater and CENTCOM! Really great. God bless.’
‘Steve Witkoff’ then responded with five emojis – two hands-praying, a flexed bicep, and two American flags.
Two hours earlier, ahead of the strikes, Hegseth reportedly shared a message containing details of the forthcoming operation, including information about targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing.
The person identified as the Vice President responded: ‘I will say a prayer for victory,’ while two other members of the group sent prayer emojis.
The White House has confirmed that the chat appears to be authentic, adding that it is now reviewing ‘how an inadvertent number was added to the chain.’
Speaking out for the first time since the story took over the news cycle Monday, Goldberg said he was fascinated by Vance’s thoughts, breaking with Trump and also questioning his knowledge on the subject
Don Bacon, a Republican congressman from Nebraska, told news outlet Axios that the administration’s action was ‘unconscionable’.
‘None of this should have been sent on non-secure systems,’ he said of Waltz’s messaging. ‘Russia and China are surely monitoring his unclassified phone.’
Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn told reporters on Monday that it ‘sounds like a huge screwup. I mean, is there any other way to describe it?’
He added: ‘I don’t think you should use Signal for classified information.’
Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who was condemned by Trump and his allies for using a private email server while she served as Secretary of State under Obama, wrote on X of the news: ‘You have got to be kidding me.’
Republican Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski told news outlet Semafor: ‘Think about what we would do if Biden were president and this came out… we would raise the roof.
‘It’s going to be interesting to see if anybody loses their job over this,’ she added, while Montana Senator Tim Sheehy simply said: ‘Somebody f***ed up’.
Much of the blame has been apportioned to Mike Waltz, who Goldberg said was the official who added him to the group.
Politico reported late last night that some officials believe that Waltz must now be pushed out or resign to save President Trump from being put in a ‘bad position’.
‘Everyone in the White House can agree on one thing: Mike Waltz is a f***ing idiot,’ one source, identified as a ‘person close to the White House’, bluntly told Politico.
It remains unclear who Waltz intended to invite to the group chat and why such a large volume of classified information was being shared on a commercial messaging app.
The fact that an outsider could be added to such a thread appears to have been a stunning failure of operational security by the Trump administration.
The use of Signal rather than more secure government channels to hold these conversations has also raised questions over whether there has been a violation of the Espionage Act, which sets rules for the handling of classified information.