'Echoes of Trump’s first term' as national security advisor loses support in White House

31 March

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz is on increasingly thin ice in President Donald Trump's administration, according to new reports.

In a recent article by journalists Josh Dawsey, Meridith McGraw and Alexander Ward, the Wall Street Journal delved into how Waltz — who was recently embarrassed after accidentally inviting Atlantic magazine editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a Signal group text thread in which highly sensitive attack plans in Yemen were discussed – had a frank conversation with Trump in the Oval Office about his continued role in the White House. Trump was reportedly angry with Waltz for being the central figure in "the administration’s first big national-security crisis" and apparently mulled firing him in conversations with other top administration officials.

During a Monday interview on CNN, hosts Boris Sanchez and Brianna Keilar asked Dawsey if Waltz's role in the Signal fiasco had "echoes of Trump's first term" in which he was effectively forced to fire Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as national security advisor after an embarrassing scandal just weeks after taking office. The Journal reporter acknowledged that "there are lots of people in the White House who want Trump to potentially make a change here."

"He's not a particularly popular figure, and it already begun to frustrate folks even before the Signal group chat leaked," Dawsey said. "So I think what you're seeing is a president who decided not to make a move for now, partially because he says he doesn't want to give the media, quote, unquote, a 'scalp.' But he's quite frustrated with his national security adviser."

Dawsey recalled how in 2017, Trump's first year as president "was besmirched by firings and personnel drama and infighting," but he now has "a more efficient operation" with "fewer leaks [and] fewer knife fights." And he added that until last week's drama, Trump was feeling more "confident" and that White House morale was high. Dawsey opined that because Trump has not expressed similar sentiment toward others embarrassed in the leaks, like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, that Waltz may be on a shorter leash as a result.

As Dawsey and his colleagues reported in the Journal, the Yemen attack plans chat was not the first time Waltz had "sensitive national security conversations" on Signal. While the outlet didn't confirm whether classified information was shared in those conversations, Waltz apparently discussed ceasefire proposals for the Ukraine-Russia war.

"I think what was so frustrating to Trump in the last week has been this sort of return to the constant kind of coverage of scandal and drama and chaos and that sort of was what his first year in office, frankly, frequently suffered," Dawsey said. "I don't think [Waltz] was the most popular figure before this happened ... So you're seeing a lot of this blame going towards towards Mike Waltz."

Watch the video of Dawsey's segment below, or by clicking this link.

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