Will US security breach on Yemen strike hurt Trump?

President offers no apologies for govt chat group 'glitch' that sparked outrage

- Bhagyashree Garekar

WASHINGTON - Americans still do not know how a journalist got added to a high-level national security chat group discussing an imminent strike against the Houthis in Yemen.

But US President Donald Trump is offering no apologies.

Or threatening retribution.

The unprecedented security breach would have had heads rolling in more conventional administrations. It drew an uncharacteristically mild reaction from Mr Trump.

Maybe he can afford to let it slide because 44 per cent of Americans believe that the country is on the right track under him. The last time the number was this high was more than 20 years ago.

Mr Trump stood his ground in the face of accusations from Democratic senators, during a heated intelligence committee hearing on March 25, that the breach was a grave matter which could have endangered national security and American lives.

He defended his National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and said the episode had been "the only glitch in two months" of his administration.

"And it turned out not to be a serious one," the President declared.

Outrage erupted after Mr Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the left-of-centre Atlantic magazine, revealed on March 24 that he was unexpectedly invited to be part of a chat group on the Signal messaging app that was confidentially discussing the March 14 bombings against the Houthis, a group backed by Iran which the US has classified as a terrorist organisation.

Mr Waltz said he took responsibility for the breach, which occurred over the chat group he had created with Vice-President J.D. Vance, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director John Ratcliffe, director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and other top officials.