Trump removes Mike Waltz as national security adviser, makes him new UN ambassador
Rubio to fill security role temporarily; sources say Waltz, blamed after reporter was mistakenly added to group chat with Yemen attack plans, was seen as ineffective, too hawkish
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump ousted his national security adviser Mike Waltz on Thursday and named Secretary of State Marco Rubio as his interim replacement in the first major shakeup of Trump’s inner circle since he took office in January.
Trump, in a social media post, said he would nominate Waltz to be the next US ambassador to the United Nations, adding that “he has worked hard to put our nation’s interests first.”
Earlier in the day, multiple sources said Trump had decided to force Waltz out of his White House position.
Trump’s selection of Rubio to replace Waltz temporarily will be the first time since Henry Kissinger in the 1970s that one person has held both the positions of secretary of state and national security adviser simultaneously.
“When I have a problem, I call up Marco. He gets it solved,” Trump said at a White House event earlier on Thursday.
The national security adviser is a powerful role that does not require Senate confirmation. Trump had four national security advisers in his first term: Michael Flynn, H.R. McMaster, John Bolton and Robert O’Brien.
Politico reported that Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, who has spearheaded the US’s role in talks to end the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and who has led negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, is being considered to replace the outgoing national security advisor.
However, a source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel that this report is incorrect and that Witkoff was not interested in the position.
Waltz’s deputy, Alex Wong, an Asia expert who was a State Department official focused on North Korea in Trump’s first term, is also leaving his post, two people told Reuters.
The national security adviser is a powerful role, but one that does not require Senate confirmation.
A 51-year-old former Republican lawmaker from Florida, Waltz faced criticism inside the White House when, in March, he was blamed for accidentally adding the editor of The Atlantic to a group chat in the Signal messaging app describing details of an imminent US bombing campaign in Yemen.
During a subsequent cabinet meeting with Waltz in the room, Trump expressed his preference for holding such conversations in a secure setting with lead walls, a clear sign of his displeasure. But he and others in the White House expressed confidence in Waltz at the time.
More recently, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was reported to have shared the same sensitive information about the Yemen attack plans with his wife and brother in a separate chat on the same encrypted messaging app.
However, the Signal controversy was not the only mark against Waltz.
A person familiar with the Cabinet’s internal dynamics said Waltz was too hawkish for the war-averse Trump and was seen as not effectively coordinating foreign policy among a variety of agencies, a key role for the national security adviser.
“The system isn’t running properly,” under Waltz, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The NSC that Waltz will leave behind has been thinned by dismissals in recent weeks.
The bloodletting began a month ago, when Laura Loomer, a right-wing conspiracy theorist, handed Trump a list of individuals in the NSC she deemed to be 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 organizations and legislative affairs, respectively – had a long history in conservative policymaking and no apparent animosity toward Trump, leaving colleagues puzzled by their dismissals, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Some NSC staffers were upset that Waltz did not defend his staff more forcefully, those people said.
Since then, more than 20 additional NSC staffers of various profiles have been let go, typically with no notice, they said.
The Times of Israel Community.