Donald Trump, the president of the United States, has announced that he will no longer nominate Mike Waltz as ambassador to the UN and resign him as his national security adviser.
After a morning of frenzied rumors that Waltz and Deputy National Security Advisor Alex Wong had been forced to resign from their posts, the revelation was made on Thursday.
On his social media platform Truth Social, Trump wrote, “I’m pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next US ambassador to the UN.” “Mike Waltz has worked tirelessly to prioritize the interests of our nation.” In his new role, I’m sure he will do the same.
Trump claimed that Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, would continue to serve as the nation’s top diplomat while replacing him with the position of national security adviser.
Trump said, “Together, we will continue to fight unabatedly to save America and the world.”
The president’s message appeared to confirm his second-term’s first significant staffing adjustment. After his relationship with Trump cooled, anonymous sources informed major US news outlets earlier that Waltz had been forced to leave.
Waltz’s reputation has suffered as a result of a mistake that led to the sharing of details of US military attacks with a private chat on the app Signal.
Trump, however, has publicly supported Waltz and refrained from punishing him for the Signal scandal.
Trump used to cycle through national security advisers throughout his first term. He had four different national security advisers, starting with the only four-weekly Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, who he had in office for four years.
Waltz, a former US Congressman, started out in Florida’s 6th district. He resigned from his congressional position in January to join the Trump administration despite being re-elected to his seat in 2024.
Prior to joining the US army as a Green Beret, a division of the special forces, he had previously been.
Trump announced Waltz as his nominee for national security adviser on November 12th, noting that “Mike has been a strong supporter of my America First Foreign Policy agenda and will be a tremendous supporter of our pursuit of peace through strength.”
However, Waltz’s background in foreign policy has drawn scrutiny. Trump has pledged to end world wars in his second term, but critics point out that Waltz has historically taken a more hawkish stance.
He opposed the widespread withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan without concessions from the Taliban while serving as a counterterrorism adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney under the former President George W. Bush’s administration.
Some of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) supporters were becoming targets for Waltz and his staff as a result. Laura Loomer, a far-right social media personality, reportedly criticised Waltz and other national security officials at a White House meeting in April.
Waltz and Wong were not among Trump’s six National Security Council (NSC) officials at the time of the meeting.
On social media on Thursday, Loomer made an appearance to celebrate Waltz’ and Wong’s departures. “Hopefully, the rest of the people who were going to be fired but who received promotions at the NSC under Waltz also depart,” she wrote.
However, Waltz’s standing in the White House was hampered by the revelation that top officials discussed a bombing campaign in Yemen during a private conversation with editor Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic magazine.
Goldberg claimed in his account of the incident that Waltz’s had an unanticipated invitation from a Signal account. Goldberg initially questioned the authenticity of the invitation. However, he ended up in a conversation with Rubio, the secretary of state, and vice president JD Vance, who is also a defense secretary.
They appeared to be discussing upcoming plans to bomb targets occupied by the Yemeni-based armed group the Houthis. Hegseth shared some of those details, including the precise timings and types of aircraft used in the bombing campaign.
Waltz has acknowledged his involvement in the scandal, and the White House has since stated that it is “case closed.”
“I assume full accountability.” Waltz told Fox News in March that he “built the group.” According to Goldberg, “We have the best technical minds looking into how this happened.” But I can assure you that I don’t know this person.
Waltz will have to go through a Senate confirmation hearing in order to assume the position of UN ambassador, which he previously did not. His Senate questioning will likely focus on a significant portion of his involvement in the “Signalgate” scandal.
Source: Aljazeera
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