Atlantic editor hits back at Trump official saying he's never met or spoken to him after Signal message leak

"Well, this isn't 'The Matrix;' phone numbers don't just get sucked into other phones. I don't know what he's [Waltz] talking about. Very frequently, in journalism, the most obvious explanation is the explanation: my phone number was in his phone, because my phone number is in his phone. He's telling everyone that he's never met me or spoken to me; that's simply not true," Goldberg told NBC News host Kristen Welker during "Meet the Press" on Sunday.

He accepted, and was then added to a chat group called "Houthi PC Small Group," where he proceeded to see a series of top Trump officials discuss what turned out to be an upcoming attack on the Houthis in what critics are calling a massive breach of national security.

"I understand why he's doing it. But, you know, this has become a farcical situation. There's no subterfuge here. My number was in his phone; he mistakenly added me to the group chat. There we go," Goldberg added during the interview. 

Welker asked Goldberg directly if he believed the information on the group message chain was classified.

Goldberg laid out how 18 members were listed in the group, including Waltz, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. What ensued in the following days was a discussion about attacking the Houthis, an Iran-backed terrorist group that's wreaked havoc on ships in the Red Sea and disrupted traffic through the critical Suez Canal.

"According to the lengthy Hegseth text, the first detonations in Yemen would be felt two hours hence, at 1:45 p.m. eastern time," he wrote. "So I waited in my car in a supermarket parking lot. If this Signal chat was real, I reasoned, Houthi targets would soon be bombed. At about 1:55, I checked X and searched Yemen. Explosions were then being heard across Sanaa, the capital city."

Fox News' David Rutz contributed to this report.