14-05-2025
Trump fires national security adviser Mike Waltz as bombshell report details toxic atmosphere in White House after leak scandal
President Donald Trump will fire Mike Waltz as his national security adviser in the first ousting of a cabinet secretary in this administration, the Daily Mail confirmed.
It comes weeks after Waltz unwittingly added a journalist to a highly sensitive group chat on the Signal app detailing bomb strike plans against Houthis in Yemen.
The mistake quickly devolved into the biggest scandal of Trump's second term so far and left the president grappling with negative press fallout.
A source told the Daily Mail that Waltz's departure is expected and Trump will likely announce it very soon.
Speculation mounted that he could be replaced by Trump's current special envoy Steve Witkoff, who has held several meetings with Vladimir Putin.
Journalist Mark Halperin first reported on his 2Way YouTube show that there was 'unhappiness throughout the national security establishment' with Waltz and his deputy national security adviser Alex Wong due to the Signal breach of security.
'This has to do about competence, not ideology,' he said.
Halperin specified that the timing was uncertain, noting that the president had not settled on a replacement.
'I do believe he has made up his mind, but he could change his mind,' he said.
A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council did not respond to a Daily Mail request for comment.
Waltz appeared in an interview on Fox and Friends Thursday morning, giving no indication that he was about to lose his job.
He trumpeted the completion of a rare minerals deal with Ukraine as 'good for the American taxpayer' and 'good for Ukraine' to help it grow their economic development and security.
It is unclear why Waltz was fired or the timing of the breaking news.
Walz was caught by photographers checking his Signal account during the president's cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Waltz also participated in a Cabinet meeting hosted by Trump on Wednesday.
He had kept his job despite the 'Signalgate' scandal in March.
Waltz was responsible for mistakenly adding Atlantic editor Jeffery Goldberg to a Signal chat with 17 high-ranking officials about military strikes in Yemen.
Goldberg published the digital messages in full at The Atlantic, leading to weeks of negative news coverage of the administration and calling into question Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth 's leadership.
Trump did not fire Waltz at the time, partially because he did not want to give Goldberg the satisfaction.
But Waltz suffered public humiliation from the scandal especially after his embarrassing Fox News interview in which he tried to to explain the mistake.
It also damaged his reputation in the West Wing.
Waltz took responsibility for the mistake, but struggled to explain how Goldberg's number was in his phone to begin with, even as he stressed that he had never spoken to him before.
'Well, if you have somebody else's contact and then it, and then somehow it gets sucked in,' he said to Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
Trump gave Waltz a less than enthusiastic endorsement in an interview with The Atlantic last week.
'Waltz is fine. I mean, he's here. He just left this office,' Trump said. 'He's fine. He was beat up also.'
Waltz's ouster takes place after journalist and Trump loyalist Laura Loomer met with the president in early April to share information she had about members on his national security council staff.
Several people were fired from the National Security council after the president's meeting with Loomer, but Trump said his decision was not a result of her reporting.
'Laura Loomer is a great patriot. She's a very strong person,' Trump said. 'She's been in the party a long time, she's done a good job,' he later added.
Loomer revealed to journalist Tara Palmeri that she wanted to play an old video for the president of Waltz trashing Trump when he first ran for president.
