In his first public comments since the Atlantic story broke early Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth came out swinging.

Upon landing in Hawaii, Hegseth took aim at Atlantic Editor-In-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who wrote the story about being added to a group chat with national security officials.

Hegseth said that no war plans were discussed in the text chain.

“Can you share how your information about war plans against the Houthis in Yemen was shared with the journalists and the Atlantic, and were those details classified,” a reporter asked. 

“So I'm talking about a deceitful and highly discredited, so called journalist who's made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again, to include the, I don't know, the hoaxes of Russia, Russia, Russia, or the fine people on both sides, hoax or suckers and losers, hopes and this guy the pedals in garbage, what he does. I would love to comment on the Houthi campaign because of the skill and courage of our troops. I've monitored it very closely from the beginning, and you see, you've been managing four years of deferred maintenance under the Trump administration. Our troops, our sailors, were getting shot at as targets our ships couldn't sail through, and when they did shoot back east purely defensively or at shacks in Yemen, President Trump said, No more. We will reestablish deterrence. We will open freedom of navigation, and we will ultimately decimate the Houthis, which is exactly what we're doing as we speak, from the beginning, overwhelmingly,” said Hegseth. 

“Why were those details shared on signal? And how did you learn that a journalist was privy to the targets, the types of weapons used,” asked the reporter. 

“I've heard it was characterized. Nobody was texting war plans, and that's all I have to say about that,” said Hegseth. 

In the Aloha State, Hegseth posted on social media, “Great to meet with INDOPACOM Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo. Our unwavering deterrence, readiness, and strength alongside our allies and partners is the cornerstone of our mission.”