US President Donald Trump removed Mike Waltz as national security adviser on Thursday and said he would nominate him to be ambassador to the United Nations.
Multiple sources cited Waltz’s handling of a Signal messaging app incident and perceived management issues as factors in the decision. In March, Waltz acknowledged mistakenly adding a journalist to a group chat discussing military operations against Houthi targets in Yemen.
Read: The Signal Leak Story Just Keeps Getting Worse
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“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States Ambassador to the United Nations,” Trump wrote, praising Waltz’s service record.
Waltz posted a brief statement on X, saying he was “deeply honoured” to continue serving the administration.
Democratic Senator Mark Warner said Waltz deserved credit for acknowledging his mistake with the Signal incident but warned of potentially difficult confirmation hearings. Republican Senator John Cornyn expressed confidence Waltz would be confirmed.
The UN ambassador post has remained vacant since Trump withdrew his previous nomination of New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik amid Republican concerns about preserving their narrow House majority.
The shakeup follows the departure of at least six National Security Council staffers in early April, according to sources.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will temporarily serve as national security adviser while maintaining his State Department role, Trump said in a social media post. This announcement caught some officials by surprise, including State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce, who learned that Rubio would serve as interim national security adviser during a press briefing.
If confirmed, Rubio would be the first official since Henry Kissinger half a century ago to simultaneously hold both the secretary of state and national security adviser positions.
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