WH, Witkoff Refute WSJ Reporting About ‘Secure’ Phone

White House officials on Wednesday defended Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff’s conduct after The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board voiced concerns about his inclusion in a Signal app group chat to discuss an American attack on Houthis while he was in Russia, The Hill reported.

Both Witkoff and press secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized a Wall Street Journal opinion piece in which the editorial board called it a “real security scandal” that Witkoff was included in the chat while on a trip to Moscow to meet with Russian officials.

Leavitt said on X that Witkoff had been provided “a secure line of communication by the U.S. Government, and it was the only phone he had in his possession while in Moscow.”