Waltz to exit post amid Signal chat fallout
Trump nominates him to be ambassador to UN
By: Cybele Mayes_oserman
and Joey Garison
USA Today
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump named Mike Waltz his next nominee for the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations hours after ousting him as his national security adviser.
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The stunning move, announced in a Truth Social Post, came after USA Today and other outlets earlier on May 1 [2025] reported Waltz is leaving as national security adviser amid continued fallout weeks after he invited a journalist into a chat among top national security officials discussing plans for Yemen airstrikes.
..... "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. "From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security advisor Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our Nation's Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new roil, in the interim, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as National Security Advisor, while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department."
..... A source familiar with the situation confirmed Waltz's exit, as well as that of deputy national security adviser Alex Wong. Their departures mark the first major staff shake-up since Trump's return to the White House in January. [2025]
..... Trump had publicly stood by Waltz after his national security adviser and other members of the chat vigorously denied sharing any classified war plans on the publicly available app Signal. The chat was revealed when Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, published a March 24 [2025] story detailing how Waltz accidentally invited him into the communications.
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Yet behind the senses, the embarrassing mishap - which even Trump stated referring to as "Sangalgate" took a toll on the relationship between Trump and Waltz, a former Republican congressman from Florida.
..... A permanent placement for Waltz has not bee named, one possibility could be Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, whose role has expanded to also include negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
..... Waltz's departure c ones just 102 days into Trump's second term. Yet Waltz lasted longer than Michael Flynn, Trump's first national security adviser, whom Trump fired 24 days into his first term in February 2017.
..... Just hours before news of his departure, Waltz appeared on Fox News, touting "leadership at its finest, led by our commander-in-chief" as he discussed new military technology investments. On the day of the initial report by The Atlantic revealing the Signal chat, Waltz said he took "full responsibility" for the "embarrassing" blunder.
..... Waltz mistakenly added Goldberg, a longtime national security journalist, to a chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal in mid-March [2025] that also included Secretary of Defense Pet Hegseth. Director of National Intelligence Tuisi Gabband and Vice President JD Vance, among other members of the Trump administration's top echelon.
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Officials in the group discussed military plans to strike the Houthi militant movement in Yemen, and Hegseth sent a message detailing strike times by U.S. warplanes and drones - as Goldberg reported in the bombshell article.
..... Waltz was defiant for weeks before news of his departure.
..... "No location. No sources & methods. NO WAR PLANS, " he posted on X in March. [2025]
..... A former member of the Army's Green Berets, Waltz served three terms repressiveness the 6th Congressional District in Florida.
..... Contributing: Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA Today