Reporters are claiming to have found private contact information online for top Trump administration officials at the center of a Signal text chain leak disclosing U.S. plans to attack Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Germany’s Der Spiegel said national security advisor Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth are among those affected.
The outlet reported that phone numbers, email addresses and even some passwords belonging to the officials were found on the internet by its staff after they “used commercial people search engines along with hacked customer data that has been published on the web.”
“Most of these numbers and email addresses are apparently still in use, with some of them linked to profiles on social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn. They were used to create Dropbox accounts and profiles in apps that track running data,” Der Spiegel reported. “There are also WhatsApp profiles for the respective phone numbers and even Signal accounts in some cases.”
TRUMP SAYS HE ‘ALWAYS THOUGHT’ WALTZ WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR SIGNAL CHAT SCANDAL
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he did not share classified plans to strike Houthi targets in a Signal group chat on March 26, 2025.
The outlet, citing publicly available information, claimed an email address linked to Hegseth was in use just a few days ago.
It said WhatsApp and Signal accounts purportedly belonging to Waltz appear to have been deactivated after it reached out to both accounts for comment.
ATLANTIC REPORTER PUBLISHES MORE TEXTS ABOUT ATTACK ON HOUTHI TARGETS
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, center, is flanked by FBI Director Kash Patel, left, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, as the Senate Intelligence Committee holds its worldwide threats hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Tuesday, March 25. All three answered questions about the Signal text chain leak. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
Der Spiegel reported that its staff also found private Google accounts linked to Gabbard in use as recently as two weeks ago.
A spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence told Fox News Digital Thursday that “this occurred almost 10 years ago, and the platforms mentioned haven’t been used in years and the passwords have changed multiple times.”
White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly also told Fox News Digital “Passwords and accounts associated with the reported leaks are nearly a decade old, and passwords have long been changed.”
National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, left, and President Donald Trump (Reuters)
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The Department of Defense did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on Thursday.
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