"Nobody was texting war plans, and that's all I have to say about that," Hegseth told reporters within hours after the controversy was unleashed Monday. This was as the National Security Council issued an initial statement saying the message thread "appears to be authentic." Meanwhile...

DEMOCRAT WARNER ASKS INTELLIGENCE AGENCY HEADS TO RELEASE ENTIRE SIGNAL CHAT IF IT IS NOT CLASSIFIED, AS THEY ASSERT

Goldberg, who says he was inadvertently added to the group, apparently by Waltz, described that he was shocked to see 'war plans' discussed in real time, regarding Yemen operations.

But Hegseth has rejected the claims that highly sensitive and classified war plans were being discussed. "You're talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called 'journalist' who's made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again," Hegseth said further.

Goldberg later in a MSNBC interview pushed back, saying that "precise details" of the attack on the Houthis were shared in the chat, and viewed by him.

"He can say that it wasn't a war plan, but it was a minute-by-minute accounting of what was about to happen, organized by CENTCOM... and [shared] with a bunch of civilian leaders," Goldberg said.

President Trump is meanwhile standing by his national security team, even as Goldberg has claimed to CNN of Hegseth, "He was texting attack plans."

On Waltz, Trump told NBC's Garrett Haake, "Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he's a good man." Trump described that it was one of Waltz's aides who added Goldberg's number to the chat.

"It was the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one," he said.

Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts is one among many who disagree. "There is no world in which this information should have been shared in non-secure channels," he said in a written statement. "Hegseth is in so far over his head that he is a danger to this country and our men and women in uniform."

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday also pushed back, saying these weren't war plans. She said the White House is "looking into how Goldberg's number was inadvertently added to the thread."