Signalgate fallout National security adviser to leave post months after group chat furore

Donald Trump's national security adviser, Mike Waltz, and his deputy, Alex Wong, will be leaving their posts, the president confirmed yesterday, while tapping Waltz for a UN job.

- Hugo Lowell

Posting on Truth Social, Trump announced that he would nominate Waltz to be "the next United States Ambassador to the United Nations" and said the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, would also serve as national security adviser in the meantime.

Rubio and Julie Davis, currently the US ambassador to Cyprus, were also appointed as chargé d'affaires to Kyiv, the state department spokesperson, Tammy Bruce, said yesterday.

The exit of Waltz and Wong marked the conclusion of a fraught tenure.

In March, Waltz inadvertently added Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, to a Signal group chat in which sensitive information about US missile strikes in Yemen was shared before they took place.

The president reportedly briefly considered firing Waltz over the Goldberg episode, according to sources familiar with the matter, but decided he was unwilling to give the news media the satisfaction of forcing the departure of a top cabinet official weeks into his second term.

Trump was also mollified by an internal review into Waltz's error.