It’s not quite President vs. Presidente, but Donald Trump is taking criticism from Dave Portnoy over the embarrassing inclusion of an Atlantic editor in a sensitive online chat with senior national security officials about a planned bombing in Yemen.
The Barstool Sports founder and self-described, ‘El Presidente,’ took to X on Wednesday to blast the White House’s response, or lack thereof, to what Portnoy sees as a ‘f***up of epic proportions.’
The 48-year-old millionaire Trump supporter began his online rant by attacking The Atlantic, which he described as a ‘heavy left-leaning media organization.’
‘I hate them,’ Portnoy said. ‘Trump hates them. They hate Trump. They probably hate me.’
But even given his animosity for the magazine, Portnoy still pointed the finger at senior national security officials for the mushrooming scandal. He went on to specifically blame White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who has admitted to including Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg in the online chat.
‘Listen, we’ve all texted the wrong person,’ Portnoy said in the self-shot video. ‘We’ve all emailed the wrong person… We are not the secretary of defense, we are not the national security advisor, we are not the Vice President of the United States… Yeah, mistakes happen. This one can’t.’
It’s not quite President vs. Presidente, but Donald Trump is taking criticism from Dave Portnoy over the embarrassing inclusion of an Atlantic editor in a sensitive online chat
US President Donald Trump listens as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks tis week
The strike in question was carried out on March 15, resulting in the deaths of 53 people, according to Yemen’s Health Ministry, which includes five children and two women among the fatalities. The US bombing targeted Yemen’s Houthi rebels, an anti-Israeli group blamed for more than 100 attacks on merchant vessels since 2023.
Trump has denied knowing anything about the situation, while Waltz has accepted ‘full responsibility,’ albeit while dismissing Goldberg as a ‘loser’ in a friendly interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham.
Meanwhile, the White House and the Pentagon have worked to minimize the inadvertent leak. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that no classified information was included in the Signal chat and Hegseth’s spokesman, Sean Parnell, followed suit on Wednesday, saying ‘there were no classified materials or war plans shared.’
However, the messages revealed by The Atlantic on Wednesday do appear to contain sensitive information, including timing, target locations, and other major elements of the attack.
‘Guess what,’ Portnoy said of the discussion on the messaging app, Signal. ‘It’s super sensitive, it’s super classified, it’s surreal that these guys added Jeffrey Goldberg to this group chat. They were talking about the attack, leading up to the attack, all the way to a couple of hours when they were gonna do it, the time, the weather, you name it.’
Portnoy took particular umbrage with Hegseth’s denials.
‘Pete Hegseth, immediate reaction, is like: ”No, that never happened. We didn’t leak any classified information. No classified information in there,”’ Portnoy said.
‘If this information somehow got out to the Houthis,’ he continued, ‘lots American soldiers could have died.’
But Portnoy wasn’t letting Trump off the hook.
‘The reaction of Pete Hegseth and President Trump has been to kind of poo-poo it – be like: ”’There’s no classified information in there,”’ he said.
‘Trump’s like: ”How did Jeffrey Goldberg get in there? Did he hack it? Did he get in there? Did he stay very long? The Atlantic is a horrible organization and a terrible magazine,” which they are and I hate them.’
The messages revealed by The Atlantic on Wednesday do appear to contain sensitive information, including timing, target locations, and other major elements of the attack
Portnoy also worked to debunk the suggestions that Goldberg somehow hacked his way into the chat.
‘By the way, [Goldberg] didn’t hack it,’ Portnoy continued. ‘He got added.
‘There is nothing being made up here. Jeffrey Goldberg is telling the truth. It’s obvious these texts are real. It’s obvious they’re classified.’
Admitting ‘we’re lucky it didn’t cause the deaths of American military members,’ Portnoy demanded that ‘somebody has to go down for this.’
‘This is a mistake that can’t happen twice,’ he continued. ‘It can’t happen once! So you have to make a change and show it will never happen again.’
Portnoy also included a direct message to Trump: ‘You may love Michael Waltz, you love Pete Hegseth, you love these guys. Somebody has to go down. To me, it’s Michael Walz, because he’s the one who added [Goldberg] to this conversation.’
