How has Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg added to the signal group chat with Trump administration officials discussing plans for airstrikes in Yemen?
The simplest explanation: National Security Advisor Mike Waltz saved Goldberg as a mobile contact and accidentally added him. In fact, when Waltz first claimed that Goldberg's phone number was “sucked” by another contact, Goldberg scoffed, “This isn't a 'matrix'.”
However, the Guardian concluded that an internal investigation conducted by the White House Information Technology Bureau had more complicated things. Automatic iPhone proposals play an important role. After Goldberg sent an email to the White House to comment on the story, Trump spokesman Brian Hughes texted the contents of his email to Goldberg's Waltz.
As a result, Waltz's iPhone provided a “Contact Suggestion Update” which ultimately saved Goldberg's phone number under the name of Hughes. Later, when Waltz tried to add Hughes (now a national security council spokesman) to the chat, he appears to have added Goldberg instead.
Goldberg said, “I know him and I've spoken to him, but I'm not going to comment on my relationship with Mike Waltz.”