US national security adviser Mike Waltz is set to leave the Donald Trump administration just weeks after it was revealed that he added a journalist to a Signal chat being used to discuss military plans, media reports said on Thursday.
This marked the first major staff shakeup of President Donald Trump’s second term.
This ouster comes after Mr. Waltz inadvertently added Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, to a Signal group chat in March that discussed plans for bombing the Houthis in Yemen, reported The Washington Times.
Waltz came under massive scrutiny after it was revealed that he added Goldberg to the private text chain on the encrypted messaging app Signal, which was used to discuss planning for a sensitive March 15 military operation against Houthi militants, AP reported.
Also in the chat were Vice President J.D. Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, The Washington Times report said.
The administration denied that any classified information was shared in the group chat but Goldberg published some of the messages that included the time of the strikes, it said.
Targeting Waltz, Laura Loomer, a far-right ally of the president, reportedly told Trump during a recent Oval Office conversation that he needs to get rid of aides who she believes are insufficiently loyal to the “Make America Great Again” agenda.
Waltz’s deputy, Alex Wong, is also expected to follow suit, said reports.
Mike Waltz, who represented Florida for three terms before his elevation to the White House, is the most prominent senior administration official to quit since Trump returned to the White House.
In his second term, the Republican president had been looking to avoid the tumult of his first four years in office, during which he cycled through four national security advisers, four White House chiefs of staff, and two secretaries of state.
The Signal chain reportedly showed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provided the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop.
Waltz had previously taken “full responsibility” for building the message chain, and administration officials described the episode as a “mistake,” but it incurred huge repercussions.
In his defence, Waltz said that he was not sure how Goldberg ended up in the messaging chain, and that he did not know the journalist, the AP report said.
(With inputs from IBNS)
