Trump announced earlier that he was nominating Waltz as U.N. ambassador and that the national security adviser would be stepping down from his post.
Vice President JD Vance rejected claims that national security adviser Mike Waltz was ousted from his post due to a March controversy involving leaked national security information.
“He wasn’t let go,” Vance told Fox News’s Brett Baier in an interview that aired on May 1. “He is being made ambassador to the United Nations, which, of course, is a Senate-confirmed position. I think you can make a good argument that it’s a promotion.”
Specifically, on May 1, President Donald Trump announced that he was nominating Waltz to the U.N. and that he would be stepping down from his national security post.
“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States Ambassador to the United Nations. From 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. I know he will do the same in his new role,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
The president said in the same post that until a new adviser could be chosen, Secretary of State Marco Rubio would serve as national security adviser while continuing to run the State Department.
“Together, we will continue to fight tirelessly to Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump said.
Some media outlets framed the move as a quiet termination of Waltz stemming from his role in a March controversy in which Jonah Goldberg, editor of The Atlantic, was added to a Signal chat where military activity in Yemen was discussed. The White House has repeatedly stated that no classified information was shared in the chat.
“Look, I think the media wants to frame this as a firing,” Vance said. “Donald Trump has fired a lot of people. He doesn’t give them Senate-confirmed appointments afterwards. What he thinks is that Mike Waltz is going to better serve the administration, most importantly, the American people, in that role.”
By Joseph Lord
