U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he is nominating national security adviser Mike Waltz to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
This came shortly after sources said Waltz would be leaving his post, just over 100 days into the new administration.
Trump also said in a social media post that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as interim national security adviser.
Waltz, 51, was among a number of officials under fire after it was revealed that Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was mistakenly included on an unclassified Signal chat in which details about imminent airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen were discussed.
Waltz’s deputy, Alex Wong, is also expected to depart, according to the people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel move not yet made public.
Waltz had previously taken “full responsibility” for building the message chain, and administration officials described the episode as a “mistake,” but one that caused Americans no harm. Waltz maintained that he was not sure how Goldberg ended up in the messaging chain, and insisted he did not know the journalist.
Administration officials including CIA director John Ratcliffe and Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, insisted that no classified information was shared on the chat, even as Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth provided the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop.
Several Trump administration officials are under fire after mistakenly including a journalist in a Signal group chat where strike plans against Houthi targets in Yemen were being discussed. Andrew Chang breaks down the defence from security officials, and why the truth about what happened is difficult to uncover.
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Waltz was on television as late as Thursday morning, promoting the administration’s agreement with Kyiv that would allow the U.S. to access Ukraine’s critical minerals and other natural resources.
‘Now do Hegseth?’
Susan Rice, who served as national security adviser in Barack Obama’s administration, told CBC News in late March the Signal chat episode damaged U.S. credibility.
“I mean the whole thing is mind-boggling and highly, highly disturbing to Americans, but also to people who trust and rely on us and have trusted and relied on us for decades,” Rice, also a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told Rosemary Barton Live.
“Now do Hegseth?” Democratic House member Norma Torres posted on social media early Thursday, before Waltz had been named UN ambassador. Hegseth has taken further criticism for other communications that have appeared not to have been secure, as well as questions about nepotism as both his wife and brother have reportedly been advised on sensitive defence matters.
Trump has publicly maintained confidence in Hegseth.
Democrats have expressed disappointment that there has been no indication that the Justice Department has opened a investigation into the matters, as officials from both parties in the past have been under scrutiny for alleged mishandling of classified information, including Hillary Clinton for her handling of emails while she served as secretary of state.
The acting inspector general for the Pentagon has said the incident would be probed within the defence department.
The Trump administration has made a priority of striking Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who launched a campaign to disrupt global shipping routes after Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel, which subsequently began its war in Gaza.
Waltz, a U.S. Army veteran, worked in various roles in the Pentagon and served in Congress for six years representing a Florida district before being chosen by Trump, even though some of his foreign policy views didn’t totally align with those of Trump.
U.S. Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth is under growing pressure to resign after reports he shared sensitive military details over the messaging app Signal.
In addition to the chat group, more tumult came when a handful of National Security Council officials were fired early last month, not long after far-right activist and Trump ally Laura Loomer raised suspicions about staff loyalty in an unusual White House meeting.
Those firings included Brian Walsh, a director for intelligence; Thomas Boodry, a senior director for legislative affairs; and David Feith, a senior director for technology and national security, as well as other lower-ranking aides.
Timothy Haugh, head of the U.S. National Security Agency, has also recently been let go.
As reports began to circulate that Waltz could be leaving the administration, Loomer appeared to take credit in a post on the social media site X, writing, “SCALP.”
“Hopefully, the rest of the people who were set to be fired but were given promotions at the NSC under Waltz also depart,” Loomer wrote in another post.
Trump’s first administration was marked by considerable turnover overall, and especially in the national security role. Michael Flynn’s tenure was even shorter than that of Waltz, as he was let go after misstatements over his contacts with Russian officials during the preceding election campaign. Flynn twice plead guilty to lying to the FBI after a subsequent indictment, though Trump later pardoned the ally.
H.R. McMaster, John Bolton and Robert O’Brien also served as national security adviser in the first Trump administration.
