Amid rumors of axing, Trump names Mike Waltz UN ambassador

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on May 1, 2025

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President Donald Trump on Thursday named Mike Waltz as his new ambassador to the United Nations after multiple reports said he would be ousted as national security adviser over his controversial role in the leaked group chat of American military attack plans on the Signal messaging app.

Instead of appointing a new national security adviser, Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio would take over that role, which is based at the White House.

“Together, we will continue to fight tirelessly to Make America, and the world, safe again,” Trump wrote on his social media site.

Waltz was told this week that he is being forced out of his White House post, several media outlets reported, citing administration sources.

The U.N. envoy post was still empty because Trump pulled the plug on his own nomination of Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., amid political worries about holding onto her upstate seat in Congress.

The game of musical chairs marks the first major staff shakeup of the second Trump administration and comes just after the president marked 100 days back in the White House.

That’s actually an improvement over Trump’s first term, when he had already ousted several top aides by this point.

Waltz, a respected military veteran and former Florida congressman, had been on shaky ground since he was blamed for adding Atlantic Editor Jeffrey Goldberg to the Signal chat set up to discuss a March 14 strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed information on the attack in real time, a stunning breach in operational security that could have put service members in danger if a foreign adversary had gained access to it.

Despite Waltz’s being on the hot seat, Trump repeatedly backed him after the group chat emerged and had said he had no plans to fire him.

Former national security adviser John Bolton said the departure of Waltz from the national security adviser post is yet another blow to America’s global stature inflicted by Trump.

“There are critical national security issues boiling all around the world and Trump’s team is again in disarray,” Bolton said.

Hegseth has apparently avoided the ax, even though he was the one who actually shared the sensitive military information on the chat with Goldberg and a host of senior Trump administration figures.

The former Fox News host also reportedly shared the attack plans with his wife, brother and personal lawyer in separate chat.

Additionally, Hegseth has been plagued by complaints about his mercurial management style at the Pentagon, with several key aides leaving under acrimonious circumstances.

“Next up? The woefully unqualified Secretary of Defense must resign or be fired immediately,” Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on social media in reaction to the Waltz reports.

Waltz has long been something of an outlier in the second Trump White House because of his traditional hawkish foreign policy views, especially on Russia and Iran.

He has backed a tough stance on compelling Russia’s Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire with embattled Ukraine. But Trump has been reluctant to put too much pressure on Putin even as Russia continues to mount bloody attacks on Ukrainian civilians.

On Iran, Waltz has said the Islamic Republic should be forced to give up its nuclear program or face possible military strikes by Israel or the U.S. Other administration figures are said to favor a more flexible approach with Tehran.

Aside from Signalgate, Waltz had also been under pressure for other reasons, including being viewed as being out of touch with some of Trump’s hard-line MAGA supporters.

He was publicly undermined last month when far right-wing activist Laura Loomer brought a list of Waltz aides she deemed as insufficiently loyal to an Oval Office meeting with Trump. The president promptly fired the aides.

Loomer reportedly wasted no time dancing on Waltz’s grave.

“Loomer-ed,” she texted reporters as word of his ouster spread, Politico’s Dasha Burns said.

“SCALP,” Loomer tweeted, taking credit for Waltz’s departure.

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