Trump disappointed about Signal chat leak giving boost to liberal outlet

"It's too bad we've given it a little boost like this," Trump said, though he later added the leak itself was "not a big deal."

The story has dominated the news for days and led to a traffic surge for The Atlantic, which is majority owned by billionaire liberal megadonor Laurene Powell Jobs and has boasted of returning to profitability with over one million subscribers.

The story generated outrage among the Trump administration's liberal critics, who called the leak a major breach of national security. Some have demanded Hegseth and Waltz's resignations for discussing sensitive material in a non-secure setting, but the White House has said no classified information was revealed.

Goldberg followed up with a second piece on Wednesday providing more details about what he and reporter Shane Harris described as "attack plans" that were discussed in the leaked groupchat.

"He's a sleazebag at the highest level. His magazine is failing. It's going to be out of business soon, in my opinion," he said.

The president was candid about his team's mistake, saying, "But somebody in my group either screwed up or it's a bad signal." He speculated that Goldberg may have been added to the administration's thread by a "staffer" and noted that, so far, he believes the leak was an accident.

Trump seemed undeterred by the media firestorm that has followed the story, stating, "It is not a big deal," though he added his team would get to the bottom of what happened. 

"You can't have that happen," he said, before returning to his slams on Goldberg. 

"He truly is a sleazeball, there's no question about it," Trump said.

The host then asked the president about Goldberg's allegations that there were "war plans" discussed in the leaked chat.

"No, there weren't details, and there was nothing in there that compromised - and it had no impact on the attack which was very successful," Trump said.

The Atlantic released a sharp statement on Wednesday in response to blistering criticism from Trump officials.

"Attempts to disparage and discredit The Atlantic, our editor, and our reporting follows an obvious playbook by elected officials and others in power who are hostile to journalists and the First Amendment rights of all Americans," a spokesperson said.