Trump suggests problem could lie with Signal

President Trump suggested that the encrypted message app Signal may be “defective” after a journalist was inadvertently added to a group chat that included his top administration officials discussing recent airstrikes in Yemen.

Speaking with reporters Wednesday in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump railed against the repeated questions about the incident and said the media should instead be focusing on business deals he has acquired for the country.

“I don’t know that Signal works. I think Signal could be defective to be honest with you,” he said. “Because you use Signal and we use Signal and everybody uses Signal, but it could be a defective platform and we’re going to have to find that out.”

Signal put out a statement Tuesday, calling itself the “gold standard for private, secure communications.”

“One piece of misinfo we need to address is the claim that there are ‘vulnerabilities’ in Signal. This isn’t accurate,” the statement on X said, pointing to a Pentagon advisory memo.

“The memo used the term ‘vulnerability’ in relation to Signal — but it had nothing to do with Signal’s core tech. It was warning against phishing scams targeting Signal users.”

“Signal is open source, so our code is regularly scrutinized in addition to regular formal audits. We also constantly monitor security@signal.org for any new reports, and we act on them with quickness while also working to protect the people who rely on us from outside threats like phishing with warnings and safeguards,” it said.

Mr. Trump said the media was focusing excessively on the incident, which he called a “witchhunt.”

“I wasn’t involved with it. I wasn’t there,” he said.

When asked whether he still believes nothing classified was shared in the chat, Mr. Trump said, “that’s what I’ve heard. I don’t know. I’m not sure.”

The press briefing at the White House turned contentious after reporters repeatedly asked different questions about the incident, which the administration has maintained wasn’t a big deal because the airstrikes were successful and that no classified information was revealed.

Mr. Trump said the idea of an inspector general’s report into how the incident occurred “doesn’t bother” him.