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President Donald Trump has decided to fire US national security adviser Mike Waltz and his deputy after a scandal over the use of a private messaging service to discuss military plans, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Waltz and Alex Wong, deputy national security adviser, were expected to leave their posts on Thursday. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Their ousting comes one month after Trump fired several National Security Council officials after Laura Loomer, a far-right activist, convinced him that they were not sufficiently aligned with his “Make America Great Again” movement.
Waltz’s tenure became suddenly precarious after he accidentally included a senior editor at The Atlantic magazine in a Signal chat with top US officials in which they discussed details of looming US strikes in Yemen targeting Houthi rebels.
The furore over the Signal chat has cast a cloud over Trump’s entire national security team since late March, also enveloping defence secretary Pete Hegseth, who shared sensitive information about the military operation on the chat.
While Waltz came under pressure over “Signalgate”, several people familiar with the situation said the Maga camp had taken aim at the former Army Green Beret and Florida congressman long before the Signal scandal broke.
This is a developing story
