Top Trump security official Waltz replaced with Rubio after Signal chat group scandal

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump confirmed on May 1 that he was replacing his national security adviser Mike Waltz following a chat group leak, saying he would appoint him as ambassador to the United Nations instead.

In the first major Cabinet shake-up of Mr Trump’s new term, the President said Secretary of State Marco Rubio would now also serve as his interim national security adviser following Mr Waltz’s departure.

“From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my national security adviser, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our nation’s interests first,” Mr Trump said on Truth Social as he announced the move.

Mr Trump did not give a reason for the move but Mr Waltz, a 51-year-old former special forces officer and Florida congressman, had been under pressure over the so-called “Signalgate” scandal since late March.

The editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine revealed at the time that Mr Waltz had

mistakenly added him to a group chat

about US strikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels on the commercial messaging app Signal.

Officials on the group

laid out the attack plan,

including the times at which US warplanes would take off to bomb targets, with the first texts barely half an hour before they launched.

“I am deeply honoured to continue my service to President Trump and our great nation,” Mr Waltz said in a post on X.

Mr Trump had repeatedly offered his backing in public but behind the scenes, Mr Waltz was losing his confidence over Signalgate, while there were also tensions with other officials due to his hawkish stance on Russia and Iran.

His stance was increasingly at odds with Mr Trump’s pivot towards Moscow as Washington pushed for Ukraine to reach a quick ceasefire deal with Russia, and as the US President reopened negotiations with Iran over its nuclear programme.

In the end, however, Mr Waltz lasted just over 100 days of Mr Trump’s second term, which has so far been more stable in terms of personnel than his first.

News of the shake-up on May 1 was so abrupt that State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce learnt about it from reporters at a briefing, reported Reuters.

The US media had reported that Mr Steve Witkoff, a real estate magnate whom Mr Trump has picked to lead US talks with both Russia and Iran, is in contention to replace Mr Waltz in the longer term.

Democrats will now turn up the heat on Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, the official who revealed the air strike details in advance and who was also reported to have shared those details in a separate Signal group chat that included, among others, his wife and brother.

“Now do Hegseth,” top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer posted on X.

Mr Waltz’s new role will require Senate confirmation, ensuring that Signalgate will stay in the headlines.

‘Scalp’

Mr Waltz was among a number of White House staff targeted by right-wing influencer and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who met Mr Trump and called for a purge.

Ms Loomer, who is known for claiming that the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the United States were an inside job, is reported to have successfully pushed for the dismissal of several senior US security officials she considered disloyal to the President.

After news of Mr Waltz’s ouster was reported on May 1, Ms Loomer appeared to take credit in a post on X, saying “SCALP”.

Mr Waltz showed no sign that he knew of his imminent departure when appearing early on April 30 on Fox News, where he hailed

the new US minerals deal with Ukraine.

Mr Waltz was also present at Mr Trump’s televised Cabinet meeting on April 30 where he lavished praise on the President.

“We have had 100 days of your leadership with respect, with strength,” Mr Waltz said.

“It is an honour to serve you in this administration.”

The national security adviser’s role has been held in the past by some of the most high-profile officials in US history, including Mr Henry Kissinger.

But Mr Waltz had been on borrowed time since Signalgate emerged as the first major scandal of the whirlwind start of Mr Trump’s new term.

On the text chain, Mr Waltz sent real-time intelligence on the aftermath of an attack on the Houthis, writing that US forces had identified the target “walking into his girlfriend’s building, and it has now collapsed”.

Mr Hegseth revealed detailed timings of the US air strikes on Yemen, putting him squarely in the Democrats’ cross hairs.

Wave of firings

Mr Rubio will be the first person since Mr Kissinger in the 1970s to hold the positions of secretary of state and national security adviser simultaneously.

“When I have a problem, I call up Marco,” Mr Trump said at a White House event earlier on May 1. “He gets it solved.”

The national security adviser is a powerful role that does not require Senate confirmation.

Mr Trump had four national security advisers in his first term as president: General Michael Flynn, General H.R. McMaster, Mr John Bolton and Mr Robert O’Brien.

Mr Waltz’s deputy Alex Wong, an Asia expert who was a State Department official focused on North Korea during Mr Trump’s first term, is also being forced from his post, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The Waltz ouster caps a month of personnel turmoil within Mr Trump’s national security establishment. Since April 1, at least 20 National Security Council (NSC) staff have been fired, the director of the National Security Agency has been dismissed, and three high-ranking Pentagon political appointees have been shown the door.

The purges have seriously hurt morale in some areas of the national security establishment, according to several officials within or close to the administration.

Some elements of the government are low on relevant national security expertise, and in some cases it has proven difficult to attract high-level talent, the officials added.

The NSC is the main body used by presidents to coordinate security strategy, and its staff often make key decisions regarding America’s approach to the world’s most volatile conflicts.

The NSC that Mr Waltz will leave behind has been thinned by dismissals in recent weeks.

The bloodletting began a month ago, when Ms Loomer handed Mr Trump a list of individuals in the NSC whom she considered disloyal, during a meeting at the White House.

Following that meeting, four senior directors were released.

Those four senior directors – who oversaw intelligence, technology, international organisations and legislative affairs, respectively – had a long history in conservative policymaking and no apparent animosity towards Mr Trump, leaving colleagues puzzled by their dismissals, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Some NSC staff were upset that Mr Waltz did not defend his staff more forcefully, those people said.

Since then, more than 20 additional NSC staff of various profiles have been let go, typically with no notice, the people said.

The Signal controversy was not the only mark against Mr Waltz in Mr Trump’s eyes, sources said.

A person familiar with the Cabinet’s internal dynamics said that besides being too hawkish for the war-averse Mr Trump, Mr Waltz was seen as not effectively coordinating foreign policy among a variety of agencies, which is a key role for the national security adviser.

His ouster could be of concern to US partners in Europe and Asia, who have seen him as supportive of traditional alliances such as Nato and tempering more antagonistic views towards them from some other Trump aides, according to one foreign diplomat in Washington who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The UN position he is now being nominated for has been vacant since Mr Trump withdrew the nomination of New York Republican Representative Elise Stefanik because her vote was needed in the House of Representatives, which is only narrowly held by Republicans. AFP, REUTERS