Trump Ejects National Security Adviser Mike Waltz - What's News

Wall Street Journal

02-05-2025

P.M. Edition for May 1. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will fill the role on an interim basis. President Trump announced that he will nominate Waltz—the first top official to lose his job in Trump's second term—as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. White House reporter Meridith McGraw discusses the significance of the staffing shuffle . And aviation reporter Andrew Tangel has the details on Trump's decision to commission an interim presidential plane by year's end, frustrated with Boeing's delay to deliver a new Air Force One. Plus, a U.S. federal judge deems the president's use of the Alien Enemies Act to allow deportations unlawful. Pierre Bienaimé hosts.
Full Transcript
This transcript was prepared by a transcription service. This version may not be in its final form and may be updated.
Pierre Bienaimé: National Security Adviser Mike Waltz is out, making him the first top official to lose his job in Trump's second term.
Meridith McGraw: Waltz had been seen as on the outs in the West Wing. At the same time, the president's sensitive to the idea that he's given the scalp to the press over the Signal episode.
Pierre Bienaimé: Plus President Trump decides to refurbish a Qatari airplane, frustrated by Boeing's delays in delivering a new Air Force One. And a federal judge rules that the president's use of the Alien Enemies Act to allow deportations is unlawful. It's Thursday, May 1st. I'm Pierre Bienaimé for The Wall Street Journal, filling in for Alex Ossola. This is the PM Edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that moved the world today. President Trump is replacing National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, making him the first top official to lose his job in Trump's second term. Trump announced on social media that Waltz would be nominated as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. He added that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will step in as interim National Security Adviser. The decision follows a report that Waltz added a journalist to a sensitive group chat on the non-government messaging app Signal roughly a month ago in which advisors discussed a bombing operation on Houthi rebels in Yemen. Meridith McGraw covers the White House and she joins me from there. Meridith, is this a promotion or what for Waltz?
Meridith McGraw: No, I wouldn't see it as a promotion, but it's certainly a serious game of musical chairs over here at the White House. Just after we were hearing rumblings, the National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, was going to be ousted. President Trump announced on Truth Social that he was actually just seeing moved into an empty seat and that would be the UN Ambassador that was going to be held by Elise Stefanik until she was asked to come back to her role as a member of Congress because of the tight margins there in the House.
Pierre Bienaimé: And with Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State as Interim National Security Adviser, what changes is he expected to bring, if any?
Meridith McGraw: Well, this is another hat that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is going to have to wear. There was a tweet, I can't take credit for it, but just added up all of the different roles that he's now been appointed to. And in addition to Secretary of State and now National Security Adviser, he's the acting USAID admin. He's also the acting archivist. So Trump is really placing a lot of responsibility in Marco Rubio and that signals to us not only how much Trump puts his respect and trust in Rubio in his administration and carrying out his foreign policy, but also how he's going to at least approach the NSA role for now.
Pierre Bienaimé: And what message is the White House sending with this reshuffle in staff?
Meridith McGraw: Waltz has been seen as on the outs in the West Wing and hadn't been as actively involved with some of the major foreign policy negotiations that are going on right now. You've seen Steve Witkoff has been traveling the world doing a lot of these big negotiations and deals. At the same time, the president's sensitive to the idea that he's given the scalp to the press over the Signal episode.
Pierre Bienaimé: That was Wall Street Journal reporter Meridith McGraw. Meridith, thank you.
Meridith McGraw: Thanks.
Pierre Bienaimé: A federal judge in Texas has ruled President Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act to detain and deport alleged members of a foreign gang unlawful. The judge who was nominated to the bench by Trump during his first term ruled the government can't detain the plaintiffs solely on the basis of the 18th century law. The order didn't bar officials from detaining or deporting people under other relevant immigration laws. The judge noted, it's the first direct ruling against Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act. The White House didn't immediately return a request for comment. Ahead of tomorrow's jobs report, a small cautionary sign, weekly filings for new unemployment benefits hit the highest level since February. In the last full week of April 241,000 Americans sought jobless benefits, well more than analysts were expecting. Still, the rise wasn't such a big jump that economists will be sounding the alarm just yet. Over the past year, there have been bigger increases that quickly reversed. Yesterday's better-than-expected earnings from Microsoft and Meta Platforms boosted markets, reassuring investors of the relative resilience of the Magnificent Seven tech giants in the face of tariff uncertainty. U.S. stocks rallied led by the Nasdaq Composite, which gained roughly 1.5%. The Dow moved up 0.2% and the S&P 500 gained just over 0.6%. Speaking of the Magnificent Seven, Amazon reported strong quarterly earnings that weren't affected by new tariffs on Chinese imports. The tech giant topped Wall Street projections. Amazon said its revenue grew by 9% in its first quarter to more than $155 billion, while its profit was over $17 billion. And Apple reported the highest March quarter revenue it's seen in more than two years. As people moved quickly to buy smartphones and other devices before new U.S. tariffs were announced in April. The company said sales rose 5% to $95 billion, ahead of analyst expectations. Coming up, President Trump is done waiting for Boeing to deliver a new Air Force One. He commissioned a smaller defense contractor to ready an interim presidential plane by the end of the year. That's after the break. President Trump wants a new Air Force One and in the short term he's moving to refurbish a Qatari luxury aircraft in order to get it. Trump wants to have the plane available for use as early as this fall. The U.S. government has commissioned L3Harris to retrofit the Boeing 747 with specialized systems, though it might not prove as capable as the current vehicles. This as Boeing continues work on a pair of Air Force One replacement jets that may not be delivered until around 2035. The project is also billions of dollars over budget after a series of supplier, engineering and manufacturing setbacks. So what does this project mean for Boeing? Andrew Tangel covers aviation for The Wall Street Journal and he joins me now. Andrew, how is Boeing looking at this development?
Andrew Tangel: This is symbolic in a ways of Boeing's problems with Air Force One replacement project and its other manufacturing and engineering problems in recent years. Boeing didn't comment for the article. But producing the Air Force One presidential jets has been a privilege and honor and point of pride for Boeing. And Trump has been so frustrated with the company's inability to get the planes that he did the deal for in his last term in office, that he has tasked a different company with finishing essentially an interim Air Force One jet to bridge the gap between the current aging Air Force One jets and the newer ones that Boeing is still plugging away on and will be done at some point in the years down the road, maybe after Trump leaves office.
Pierre Bienaimé: Could Boeing see its Air Force One contracts canceled and how big of a blow would that be for the company?
Andrew Tangel: That was under consideration, at least during the previous administration. It's unclear what the status of the Boeing contract is at this moment. Boeing, prior to Trump taking office the second time, informed the government that there were new delays that suggested the planes would not be delivered until 10 years away. Trump didn't like that news and has dispatched Elon Musk to speed up Boeing's project. And part of that work is involving reducing the requirements by the government to make it easier for Boeing to finish the planes. So how well Boeing can perform under what becomes of the new timeframe that the government and Boeing settle on, it remains to be seen. But if Boeing were to lose the contract, it would be a blow to Boeing's reputation.
Pierre Bienaimé: That was Wall Street Journal aviation reporter Andrew Tangel. Andrew, thank you.
Andrew Tangel: Thank you.
Pierre Bienaimé: Chief executives are leaving their posts at a record pace this year, according to Challenger Gray & Christmas, which tracks executive departures. Among U.S. businesses with at least 25 employees, over 2,200 CEOs bid farewell last year and more than 370 public company chiefs exited, roughly a quarter more than did in 2023. WSJ columnist Callum Borchers told our Your Money Briefing podcast that some of the middle managers who would've once been ushered up the career ladder to take the place of exiting CEOs are instead stalling out or calling it quits themselves.
Callum Borchers: It's one thing for the CEO who's already done it to go retreat to the beach, right? But it's another thing for the potential successors to go and do it early, but some are. I met a financial manager in his 40s named Ryan Beyer, for example. He's moved his family to Puerto Rico. He was a principal at a wealth management firm in the D.C. area. He's the type of rising star who could be in the leadership pipeline, but he took a buyout, left early. He's not retired. He's advising high net worth family offices. And he says, "Look, I earn less than I used to, but I'm fine with that because I'm available for my kids' school pickups and drop-offs. I never miss a baseball game." And we're seeing more of these Millennial and younger Gen Xers dialing back their professional ambitions a little bit in the name of work-life balance.
Pierre Bienaimé: You can listen to the full story on tomorrow's episode of Your Money Briefing. And Kohl's has fired its CEO Ashley Buchanan, after a board investigation discovered he had instructed the company to enter into a highly unusual business deal involving a woman with whom he has had a romantic relationship. That's according to people familiar with the situation. According to a regulatory filing, Buchanan caused the retailer to enter into a multimillion dollar consulting agreement with a woman who was part of the consulting team. Buchanan declined to comment. And that's What's News for this Thursday afternoon. Today's show was produced by Anthony Bansie with supervising producer Michael Kosmides. I'm Pierre Bienaimé for The Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.