Mike Waltz Called Out After Declaring He's 'Never Met' SignalGate Journalist: 'How the Heck Did You Have His Number?'

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National Security advisor Mike Waltz issued his first public response to Monday's report that a journalist was added to a "war plans" group text between top government officials.

Waltz insisted he had "never met, never communicated with" The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, despite Goldberg's claim that he was added to the Signal messaging app's chat by Waltz himself.

In an ambassador's meeting, Waltz undermined Goldberg's reporting, referring to the piece as another "hoax," deflecting on the question of how the journalist ended up in a highly sensitive chatroom unnoticed as they discussed national security issues.

Waltz dismissed Goldberg's credibility, despite published confirmation of the group text's authenticity from National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes.

"We are looking into and reviewing how the heck he got into this room," Waltz said before he detoured into praise of President Donald Trump's military actions and leadership.

Social media users were not satisfied by the explanation.

"If you never met him, never talked to him, and hold him in such low esteem, how the heck did you have his number?" one user asked.

Another mocked Waltz's attempt to brush off the incident: "Sometimes, just saying 'sorry, we f---ed up' is a lot easier than denying and ignoring reality."

Skeptics also pointed out the contradiction in Waltz's statement. "Never met him just happened to have his contact in my phone...yeah, okay," one post said. Others accused him of attempting to deflect rather than provide real answers, calling the diversion "disgusting," and "pathetic."

Waltz's response echoes that of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who similarly attacked Goldberg's reporting before heaping praise on Trump and the military operation. Critics have called for Hegseth's resignation, as he allegedly transmitted details of the operation to his colleagues over the commercial app.

With "SignalGate" fueling further scrutiny over the Trump administration's handling of classified information, questions remain about who was actually supposed to be added to the chat—and why Goldberg's number was in the system in the first place.