President Donald Trump has fired National Security Adviser Mike Waltz after a month-long disaster over a Signal chat leak that exposed active US war plans.
The dismissal makes Waltz the first senior official to get kicked out of the White House in Trump’s second term.
The chaos started when Waltz added journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to a private Signal group where classified military operations were being discussed by top-ranking officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The information was exposed by The Atlantic, which confirmed Goldberg had received real-time details about a US airstrike in Yemen. He reportedly saw exact target coordinates, weapons packages, and timing just two hours before the bombs hit.
Goldberg never hacked anything. He was added by Waltz himself, who later admitted, “I take full responsibility. I built the group,” during an interview with Fox News. The Signal group wasn’t official government communication. It was personal phones, off-grid, and used to talk about highly sensitive strikes like it was just another Tuesday.
Trump held off firing but eventually pulled the trigger
Though the exposure instantly embarrassed the administration, Trump didn’t fire Waltz on the spot. Instead, he told reporters he would “look into” it, while venting his frustration privately.
CBS News and The Guardian both reported that Waltz had intended to add Brian Hughes, a national security spokesman, but instead dropped Goldberg into the chat. The phone contact had been mislabeled, and by the time anyone noticed, the journalist already had eyes on classified data.
Waltz had joined the administration fresh from Congress, where he’d represented Florida’s 6th District until resigning in January. While in the House, he served on the Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Armed Services committees.
He also came with 27 years in the Army and National Guard, retiring as a colonel. None of that background saved him once Goldberg saw the war plans before the strike even began.
Democrats responded immediately. Representative Julie Johnson said, “One less person who will put our troops in harm’s way and risk our national security.” Representative Herb Conway posted, “Good start.” Representative Eugene Vindman wrote that we’re “halfway there,” and called for Pete Hegseth to get removed too.
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