US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz to exit Trump administration after Signal chat leak: Report

This marked the first major staff shakeup of President Donald Trump’s second term.

Waltz came under massive scrutiny in March after it was revealed that he added journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to a private text chain on the encrypted messaging app Signal, which was used to discuss planning for a sensitive March 15 military operation against Houthi militants in Yemen, AP reported.

Targeting Waltz, Laura Loomer, a far-right ally of the president, reportedly told Trump during a recent Oval Office conversation that he needs to get rid of aides who she believes are insufficiently loyal to the “Make America Great Again” agenda.

Waltz’s deputy, Alex Wong, is also expected to follow suit, said reports.

Mike Waltz, who represented Florida for three terms before his elevation to the White House, is the most prominent senior administration official to quit since Trump returned to the White House.

In his second term, the Republican president had been looking to avoid the tumult of his first four years in office, during which he cycled through four national security advisers, four White House chiefs of staff, and two secretaries of state.

The Signal chain reportedly showed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provided the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop.

Waltz had previously taken “full responsibility” for building the message chain, and administration officials described the episode as a “mistake,” but it incurred huge repercussions.

In his defence, Waltz said that he was not sure how Goldberg ended up in the messaging chain, and that he did not know the journalist.