Washington: The White House accused The Atlantic of peddling a "hoax" Wednesday after the magazine's editor accessed advance details of US military strikes against Yemen's Houthis through an errant Signal group chat.

According to Anadolu Agency, spokesperson Karoline Leavitt wrote on X, calling the report a "sensationalist spin" by a "Trump-hater" and stated that The Atlantic has conceded that the details shared were not "war plans." Vice President JD Vance also commented on the matter, asserting that Jeffery Goldberg "oversold what he had," while National Security Advisor Michael Waltz emphasized that no locations, sources, methods, or war plans were shared in the group chat. Waltz further explained that foreign partners had already been notified that strikes were imminent.

The comments from the White House came after the magazine revealed that Goldberg received strike timings two hours before the March 13 operation. The Atlantic accused US officials of "downplaying" the importance of the messages, highlighting that Goldberg learned of aircraft departure times before the strikes, which they warned could have exposed American personnel to greater danger if the information had fallen into the wrong hands during the crucial two-hour period.

The controversy originated from Goldberg's accidental inclusion in the "Houthi PC small group" Signal chat. This group included high-profile officials such as Vice President JD Vance, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. In the conversations, Hegseth shared key times about the attack, writing, 'Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch.'