As just about everyone expected, Saturday Night Live‘s cold open tackled the biggest news story of the past week: A war plans group chat between Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President J.D. Vance and more Trump administration officials accidentally included Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. “Group Chat Cold Open” starred cast member Andrew Dismukes as Hegseth.
After the real Hegseth initially denied that the Signal group chat included any sensitive national security info, Goldberg published screenshots of the texts in a story titled “Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal.” But instead of a parody reenacting the wild chain of events, SNL took things in another direction, with Hegseth making another national security mistake. He mistakenly drops more plans in a chat thread between three teen girls (Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman, and March 29 Host Mikey Madison).
“Wait, does anyone else think Mark Doogan is low-key hot with that haircut?” queen bee Jennabelle (Madison) types.
“Oh, my God, yes. Glow up vibes,” her friend (Nwodim) replies, their text screen popping up in the corner.
But someone new has entered the chat.
RELATED: Watch Mikey Madison’s SNL Monologue & Sketches from March 29, 2025
Andrew Dismukes plays Pete Hegseth in SNL‘s “Group Chat Cold Open”
“FYI: Green light on Yemen raid! Tomahawks airborne 15 minutes ago. Who’s ready to glass some Houthi rebels? Flag emoji. Flag emoji. Flag emoji. Flag emoji. Flag emoji. Fire emoji. Eggplant,” Hegseth texts the confused trio.
“Uh, who is this?” Madison’s character asks, but Hegseth is too busy sending more emojis to notice something’s amiss, thinking she must be “Jennabelle from Defense.”
“Hey, while I got everyone, sending a PDF with updated locations of all our nuclear submarines,” Hegseth tells them. “Check that one we got chilling right outside Shanghai — “Jordan Peele sweating like crazy” GIF!”
“Stop sending us this stuff!” Jennabelle pleads. He adds JD Vance (Bowen Yang) instead.
RELATED: Mikey Madison’s Surrounded by Saratoga Bottles in Her Glam SNL Table Read Pic
“How’s Greenland, by the way? I bet you’re killing it,” Hegseth types, asking about Vance’s real-life bumpy visit to the country.
“No I’m not,” Vance admits. “Nobody knows why I’m here, especially me.” While Jennabelle has to hop off (saying she’s got a date with former congressman Matt Gaetz), Secretary of State Marco Rubio (Marcello Hernandez) is looped in, sending along ‘the real JFK files — not those fake ones we released. Do not share!”
And somehow, The Atlantic‘s Jeffrey Goldberg (Mikey Day) is somehow added again. Watch Saturday Night Live‘s “Group Chat Cold Open” above.
