US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz says he takes "full responsibility" after a journalist was added to a group chat of high-level Trump administration officials discussing a planned military operation in Yemen earlier this month.
Mr Waltz, who leads the White House's National Security Council, added Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a group chat on the messaging app Signal, with the embarrassing error triggering widespread concern in Washington about the sharing of confidential information and the use of a commercial app to share potentially classified material.
Goldberg said he was added to the chat on March 13, which appeared to include cabinet secretaries and top aides, including Vice-President JD Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
While on the Fox News show The Ingraham Angle, Mr Waltz was asked by host Laura Ingraham what staffer was responsible for the adding muck-up,
Mr Waltz replied that a staffer wasn't the person responsible.
"I take full responsibility, I built the group. My job is to make sure everything is coordinated," he said.
[tweet]Earlier on Tuesday, local time, US President Donald Trump defended Mr Waltz, saying he'd "learned a lesson" from the "glitch".
Mr Trump also added that he doesn't think his national security adviser "should apologise".
In a later interview on conservative news channel Newsmax, Mr Trump suggested that "somebody that worked with worked with Mike Waltz at a lower level, had Goldberg's number or call through the app, and somehow this guy ended up on the call."
[video]In the interview with Fox News, Mr Waltz also raised the possibility, without citing evidence, that Goldberg had got his own way into the group.
"[He's gone] to all kinds of lengths to lie and smear the president of the United States and he's the one that somehow gets on somebody's contact and then gets sucked into this group."
The national security adviser told Fox News that he also spoke with Elon Musk about how this mistake happened and that Mr Musk was looking into it.
"We have got the best technical minds looking at how this happened."
[tweet]He added that he didn't know Goldberg and could not recall ever meeting him.
"I know him by his horrible reputation, and he really is the bottom scum of journalists. I know him in the sense that he hates the president, but I don't text him he wasn't on my phone," he told Fox.
Ingraham then asked Mr Waltz again about how people are still concerned about how somebody who didn't want the president to be successful was added to the chat.
"We made a mistake, we're moving forward and we are going to continue to knock it out of the park for this president."
One official reported to be on the Signal chain, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, acknowledged during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday that she was travelling overseas during the exchange.
She wouldn't say whether she was using her personal or government-issued phone because the matter is under review by the White House National Security Council.
Both Ms Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who also was a participant in the group chat, testified at an intelligence hearing on Tuesday, where they were faced with blistering criticism from lawmakers.
"Director Ratcliffe, this was a huge mistake, correct?" Senator Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, asked.
After a brief pause, Mr Ratcliffe shook his head. "No," he said.
Mr Ratcliffe attempted to interject as Mr Ossoff asked a follow-up question, leading the two men to speak over each other.
"This is an embarrassment," Mr Ossoff said, silencing Mr Ratcliffe. "This is utterly unprofessional. There's been no apology. There has been no recognition of the gravity of this error."
AP/ ABC News
