Washington
UJ
—
When Donald Trump appointed Mike Waltz as national security adviser, the decision was perceived as mutually beneficial: A combat veteran with four Bronze Stars would lend his experience to the White House and his reliably Republican Florida House district was considered secure.
However, both perceptions now seem much less assured, as Waltz faces challenges in regaining his standing within the West Wing following a significant security mishap and Republicans race to retain his former seat in a special election on Tuesday, which will pose one of the clearest tests of Trump’s popularity since he took office.
With questions surrounding Waltz still lingering on Monday, the White House attempted to move forward. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that Trump continues to support Waltz and that an inquiry into how the national security adviser inadvertently invited The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief into a conversation on an encrypted messaging app regarding military strategies for Yemen has been closed.
“The president has made it very clear that Mike Waltz remains a vital member of his national security team,” Leavitt told reporters. “This case has been resolved for us here at the White House. Measures have been implemented to guarantee that something like this will never occur again. We are progressing.”
Leavitt hesitated to offer additional details regarding the actions taken and did not disclose whether the review announced last week by the president, which was said to include the White House counsel’s office and Elon Musk, provided any new insights into how Jeffrey Goldberg gained access to the chat where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unveiled a highly sensitive military initiative aimed at neutralizing Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The president’s decision to retain Waltz – at least for the time being – does not indicate that all concerns related to a peculiar scandal have been resolved, one that even the president has admitted was the most significant “glitch” of his new administration. Advisers to the president were hesitant to appear to yield to a scandal, especially one involving The Atlantic, a publication that Trump despises.
Although he has publicly downplayed the issue, Trump was irritated by the impression of incompetence displayed by his aides and found it hard to believe that Goldberg would have any communications with someone from his close inner circle.
Last week, Trump decided he did not want to dismiss anyone over this messaging incident, concerned about the perception of yielding to outside pressures. However, this did not stop him from consulting with other aides and allies about possible actions, including whether he should terminate Waltz for inadvertently including Goldberg in the Signal chat that addressed military strategies concerning Yemen.
Trump’s public backing of Waltz reached its peak last Tuesday, as he told reporters he believed his aide was “doing his best” and “will continue to do a good job,” while intentionally not attributing blame to him for the mishap.
By Wednesday, his enthusiasm appeared to wane somewhat.
“It was Mike, I suppose. I don’t know,” he remarked to reporters in the Oval Office.
By Thursday, Trump continued to confer with senior officials in his administration regarding whether it was wise to keep Waltz in his position.
He met with Vice President JD Vance, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, and Sergio Gor, the head of presidential personnel, according to sources familiar with the meeting, first reported by The Wall Street Journal. Additionally, he expressed his frustrations in discussions with political allies that Waltz’s former congressional seat in Florida had escalated into a far more challenging race for Republicans than initially anticipated.
Removing Waltz would not lead to another contentious confirmation process, a scenario that Trump and other White House officials are keen to avoid. The national security adviser role, while crucial within the US government, does not require Senate approval. Trump has firmly supported Hegseth, who weathered a difficult confirmation battle in January.
Yet as the new week began, Trump remained determined not to disrupt his team, despite the ongoing grievances he has expressed to allies regarding the situation.
Persistent questions about Waltz in Trump’s world
However, the president has yet to grasp the most pressing question: How did Goldberg’s contact information end up on Waltz’s phone? Waltz’s public explanations have been vague at best.
“It somehow gets sucked in. It gets sucked in,” he stated during an interview on Fox News last week, one that Trump and other senior officials found unimpressive.
For Trump, the Signal incident marked the most blatant mistake of his second term and tarnished what he believes to be a successful start to his new administration which has been largely free from the early pitfalls of his first term.
Even prior to the Signal debacle occurring last week, there were murmurs in Trump’s circle questioning whether Waltz had sufficient ideological loyalty to fulfill the role of national security adviser.
Having previously worked in the administration of President George W. Bush, he openly challenged Trump before the 2016 election, stating after Trump criticized Sen. John McCain that he “hasn’t served this country for a day in his life” and berating him for “cozying up to Putin.”
Before his current position in the White House, Waltz also advocated for American support for Ukraine, even while Trump and some of his allies were critical of its importance to the United States.
Similarly, there have been inquiries regarding his conduct in the West Wing, where he now holds a senior-level position rather than being a primary decision-maker, as he was previously on Capitol Hill.
At 51 years old, Waltz is part of a significant group of Floridians holding top roles in the White House. Yet, during the first two months of the administration, he reportedly unsettled some Trump loyalists, particularly due to his hawkish foreign policy perspectives, according to sources familiar with the situation.
The former congressman also exhibited a sense of entitlement, according to some aides, rather than conducting himself as a member of the national security team. White House officials challenged any such depiction, asserting that all advisers and Cabinet secretaries serve at the president’s discretion.
Waltz was elected to Congress in 2018 to fill the seat of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and was re-elected three times. An Army Ranger, Waltz was chosen for the prestigious Green Beret special forces, completing several tours in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa.
National security advisers have not maintained a particularly strong record in Trump’s West Wing. He cycled through four during his first term: Michael Flynn, who was fired weeks after taking office in 2017 for misleading about his contacts with Russia; HR McMaster, who left due to differences over Syria and Russia; John Bolton, whom Trump dismissed after 17 months (Bolton claimed he resigned); and Robert O’Brien, who remained until the end of the term.
The repetitive cycle of appointing and dismissing top national security aides — along with the White House’s other crucial job of chief of staff — contributed to a perception of disorder during Trump’s first term, a scenario he is eager to avoid this time around.
Trump aimed to put the issue behind him this weekend, stating he had not discussed dismissing Waltz or anyone else involved.
“No, I’ve never heard that,” he told NBC News. “And nobody else makes that decision but me and I’ve never heard it, and I don’t fire people because of fake news and because of witch hunts.”
