Upon the telegram's arrival by radiogram from Obersalzberg at 00:56 on 23 April 1945, Martin Bormann, who controlled access to Hitler, seized upon it as evidence of "treason" and Göring's attempt to launch a coup d'etat. He claimed that the telegram was not a request for permission to assume power in accordance with the decree, but a demand to resign or be overthrown. While Walther Hewel (Joachim von Ribbentrop's liaison and a personal friend of Hitler's) attempted to justify Göring's action by saying the bunker's communications system could fail at any time and thus sever the command structure, Goebbels reinforced Bormann's argument by agreeing that it smelled of a coup.