United States President, Donald Trump, has dismissed his National Security Adviser, Michael Waltz, following a major security breach involving the accidental inclusion of a journalist in a classified Signal group chat.
Naija News reports that the incident, which has since been dubbed “Signalgate,” marks the first high-level dismissal of Trump’s second term, according to a report by Daily Mail.
Waltz’s ouster was linked to his accidental inclusion of The Atlantic editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, in a Signal group chat containing 17 senior U.S. officials. The group was reportedly discussing sensitive military plans targeting Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Goldberg later published the full contents of the messages, triggering public outrage, security concerns, and media scrutiny.
Sources told Daily Mail that the decision to remove Waltz had long been expected within the national security establishment. His deputy, Alex Wong, is also reportedly under fire.
“There is unhappiness throughout the national security establishment,” veteran journalist Mark Halperin stated on his 2Way YouTube show, noting that the issue was about “competence, not ideology.”
Although Waltz had retained his position in the weeks following the blunder, his credibility was severely damaged.
In a recent appearance on Fox & Friends, Waltz attempted to shift focus to foreign policy achievements, describing a new minerals deal with Ukraine as “good for the American taxpayer.”
However, during a separate interview with Laura Ingraham on Fox News, he stumbled in trying to explain how Goldberg was added to the group. “Well, if you have somebody else’s contact and then it, and then somehow it gets sucked in,” he said.
President Trump was said to have initially hesitated to fire Waltz, reportedly to avoid giving Goldberg the satisfaction of a political victory.
In an interview with The Atlantic, Trump gave a lukewarm assessment: “Waltz is fine. I mean, he’s here. He just left this office. He’s fine. He was beat up also.”
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy and an associate who has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, is being considered as a likely replacement.
An official announcement from the White House is expected soon.
