Stumbled over Signal Affair: Ousted Waltz to become US Ambassador to the UN

That happened quickly. Initially, it was just insider information that Mike Waltz had lost his position as the US President's National Security Advisor. Now, it's been confirmed by Trump himself. However, he now wants to make him ambassador to the UN.

US President Donald Trump's National Security Advisor Mike Waltz is set to become the new US ambassador to the United Nations in New York. His current position in the White House will be temporarily filled by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will also serve in the role, Trump wrote on his online mouthpiece Truth Social . Previously, several US media outlets reported that Waltz, who was implicated in the scandal surrounding a group chat on the commercial app Signal, would be dismissed as national security advisor.

Trump wrote of Waltz: "Since his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress, and as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our nation's interests first." He said he will continue this in his new role. However, the UN ambassadorship still requires confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Congresswoman Elise Stefanik was originally slated for the position. However, due to a narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, Trump withdrew her nomination a few weeks ago. Dorothy Shea currently holds the post on an interim basis.

Trump's administration has been in office since January 20. Waltz is the first prominent member of the administration to leave the White House since then. Earlier this morning (local time), Waltz himself had commented on the administration's policies on Fox News. His nomination for the post at the United Nations saves him some face: The position is not at the top of the Washington power center, but does carry Cabinet rank.

Waltz accidentally invites journalists to chat

In March, Waltz accidentally invited Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the US magazine "The Atlantic," to a group chat of high-ranking government officials on the Signal app about impending attacks on the Houthi militia in Yemen. Goldberg then published the conversation, which also included US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and other high-ranking government officials.

At a White House event, Trump once again explicitly praised Hegseth for his "fantastic" work. Hegseth had come under increasing pressure because, according to media reports, he had also informed his wife and brother about the Yemen attack in a second Signal group chat.

US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told Fox News that Trump fired the wrong man and should have fired Hegseth.

Hegseth informed about attack times

Experts were astonished that senior government officials were sharing apparently classified information on a platform not controlled by the government itself. The White House denied that the information was classified. However, screenshots of the chat history show that on March 15, shortly before the start of the US military strike in Yemen, Hegseth posted details of the planned course of action in the Signal chat—including the weather, launch times for F-18 fighter jets, and drones.

Waltz later told Fox News that he himself had formed the Signal group. He said it was embarrassing. He didn't know how the journalist's number got into his phone and how he then joined the group. Perhaps a contact in his phone's address book was saved with a different number, he speculated. Waltz said he had never met "Atlantic" editor-in-chief Goldberg, whom he described as a Trump hater, scum, and a loser, nor had he ever sent him a text message.

The chat published by Goldberg also revealed much about the administration's attitude. Vice President J.D. Vance, for example, was quoted as saying, "I just hate to bail out Europe again." Hegseth responded, "I fully share your disgust with European parasitism. It's pathetic."

During Trump's first term, his then-national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned after just over three weeks in office. Flynn's resignation stemmed from a conversation about US sanctions with the Russian ambassador in Washington, about which he had lied to Vice President Mike Pence.