Trump resists firing Waltz despite security blunder
Vice President of the United States J.D. Vance and top advisors urged Donald Trump to dismiss his National Security Advisor Michael Waltz following the incident of mistakenly adding a journalist to a Signal chat discussing a planned attack in Yemen, reports Politico.
According to two people familiar with the matter, Vance and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles were among those who, during a meeting on Wednesday evening at 1 AM Greenwich Mean Time, told Trump that adding the journalist to the chat was a serious embarrassment for the White House, and suggested it might be time to dismiss Waltz.
Trump agreed that Waltz mishandled the situation but decided not to fire him to avoid "giving (liberal) media the advisor's head."
According to Politico's sources, this does not mean Waltz has no reason to worry. One of these individuals told the portal: "They'll stick by him for now, but he'll be gone in a couple of weeks."
Signal is a messenger where high-ranking US officials, including Vance and Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth, discussed plans for a strike against Houthi fighters in Yemen.
The editor-in-chief of "The Atlantic," Jeffrey Goldberg, was mistakenly invited to the group chat, allowing him to follow the discussion and gain insight into the detailed strike plans two hours before their execution. In a later television interview, Waltz stated that he takes full responsibility for the incident.
