Trump to oust national security adviser Mike Waltz

Waltz lost favor with the president and his senior advisers after The Atlantic revealed that he added a journalist to a chat on the nongovernment messaging app Signal, a crisis that dominated headlines and became one of the first major embarrassments for the administration. Trump declined to fire Waltz immediately, but privately expressed his frustration with Waltz.

Trump and senior administration officials, including White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, had been frustrated with Waltz even before the Signal debacle. Waltz hired aides that his critics said didn’t appeal to Trump’s MAGA base and struggled to relay the president’s national security priorities on television—once seen as the former Florida congressman’s strength, according to administration officials. He also was sometimes ideologically out of step with Trump, pushing more traditionally hawkish views on Ukraine and Iran, and clashed with other White House officials, people close to Trump said.

Waltz was planning to travel to Michigan on Tuesday for the president’s rally marking his first 100 days in office. But Trump told him not to attend, according to administration officials.

Senior U.S. officials said Waltz had been marginalized during debates on key decisions, namely starting talks with Iran over its nuclear work and brokering a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy to both of those negotiations, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio proved more influential in those deliberations, the officials said, noting that Rubio had recently been spending much of his time at the White House.

Waltz, the former Green Beret who was one of Trump’s strongest backers while in Congress and during the 2024 campaign, lasted just 102 days as national security adviser. He stayed in his role nearly five-times longer than retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, who was first to serve as national security adviser during Trump’s first term. Trump fired Flynn for lying to the FBI about contacts with senior Russian officials during the 2016 election cycle, but both men reconciled and Trump has spoken publicly about bringing the retired three-star general back into his inner circle.

Trump cycled through four total national security advisers during his first term. Whoever succeeds Waltz will be Trump’s sixth person in that position over two presidencies.

Waltz already survived one round of cuts to the National Security Council. Far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer in April convinced Trump that Waltz had hired aides harmful to his agenda, leading to the ouster of at least four staffers. Waltz kept his job, though the episode was indicative of how he had lost influence with the president and control over his own team.

Waltz cut a diminished figure after the revelation he inadvertently placed The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg into the Signal chat where senior officials like Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth debated coming strikes on the Houthis. Waltz also referenced intelligence provided to the U.S. by Israel in the discussion on the encrypted-but-unclassified system.

The report sent shock waves through Washington and immediately sparked questions about Waltz’s future as national security adviser. Trump stood by Waltz, calling the Signal story overblown by the media as aides said the president had complete confidence in him.

Trump let Waltz know in a one-on-one meeting that the national security adviser would keep his job. Trump decided to give Waltz a reprieve, two administration officials said at the time, despite the mounting pressure on him.

But Trump continued to ask personal allies in the White House and Mar-a-Lago, his private Florida club, what they thought of Waltz, a sign that the president was considering alternatives.

Write to Josh Dawsey at Joshua.Dawsey@WSJ.com, Alexander Ward at alex.ward@wsj.com and Meridith McGraw at Meridith.McGraw@WSJ.com