What led to Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg being included in a Signal group chat with Trump administration officials, where they discussed plans for an airstrike in Yemen?

The most straightforward explanation is that National Security Adviser Mike Waltz had Goldberg’s contact information saved in his phone and inadvertently added him to the group chat. Initially, Waltz claimed that Goldberg’s phone number was accidentally pulled from another contact, prompting Goldberg to respond with skepticism, saying, “This isn’t ‘The Matrix.’”

However, according to a report by the Guardian, an internal investigation conducted by the White House’s information technology office revealed a more complex sequence of events, involving an iPhone auto-suggestion feature. After Goldberg emailed the White House for a comment on a story, a Trump spokesperson, Brian Hughes, texted the contents of Goldberg’s email to Waltz.

As a result, Waltz’s iPhone generated a “contact suggestion update” that saved Goldberg’s phone number under Hughes’ name. When Waltz attempted to add Hughes, now a spokesperson for the National Security Council, to the group chat, he inadvertently added Goldberg instead.

Goldberg stated, “I’m not going to comment on my relationship with Mike Waltz beyond saying I do know him and have spoken to him.”