The stunning revelation that top administration officials accidentally included a reporter in a group chat discussing war plans triggered furious discussion inside the White House that national security adviser Mike Waltz may need to be forced out.
Nothing is decided yet, and White House officials cautioned that President Donald Trump would ultimately make the decision over the next day or two as he watches coverage of the embarrassing episode.
A senior administration official told POLITICO on Monday afternoon that they are involved in multiple text threads with other administration staffers on what to do with Waltz, following the bombshell report that the top aide inadvertently included Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg in a private chat discussing a military strike on Houthis.
“Half of them saying he’s never going to survive or shouldn’t survive,” said the official, who like others was granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberation. And two high-level White House aides have floated the idea that Waltz should resign in order to prevent the president from being put in a “bad position.”
“It was reckless not to check who was on the thread. It was reckless to be having that conversation on Signal. You can’t have recklessness as the national security adviser,” the official said.
A person close to the White House was even more blunt: “Everyone in the White House can agree on one thing: Mike Waltz is a fucking idiot.”
Goldberg got a request to join Signal, an encrypted messaging app, from a “Mike Waltz” on March 11, according to the publication. He was then included in a group chat dubbed “Houthi PC small group” with what appeared to be other top administration officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and others.
A third person familiar with the fallout said Trump has spoken with Waltz about the matter — and the White House is, for now, standing by him.
“As President Trump said, the attacks on the Houthis have been highly successful and effective. President Trump continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team, including national security adviser Mike Waltz,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a Monday statement. The press office declined to comment further.
A fourth White House official said they were aware of internal pressure for Waltz to own his mistake — which could mean a possible resignation. But that official said what happens to Waltz largely depends on how Trump personally feels about the matter, and noted the involvement of other administration officials in the Signal chat as well.
Two of the officials said that while Trump may lay blame at the feet of Waltz for potentially compromising U.S. national security, he could just as easily be frustrated with Vance for stepping out of line from the administration’s foreign policy in the chat, or target Hegseth as the one who allegedly shared sensitive details with the group.
“I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now. There’s a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices. I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself,” Vance said, according to the Atlantic’s report. “But there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc.”
It has also created an opening for longtime Waltz detractors suspicious of his neoconservative ties to push for his removal. Waltz once advised former Vice President Dick Cheney on counterterrorism but, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, has in recent years shifted his foreign policy views to embrace a more “America First” approach.
Those concerns were amplified on social media Monday by a contingent of isolationist conservatives who questioned why Waltz had the Atlantic editor-in-chief’s cell phone number in the first place — suggesting it was evidence of Waltz’s continued neocon sympathies.
And while Congress has been reluctant to cross Trump in his first two months in office, some members on Monday voiced concerns about the incident. Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, said sending sensitive information over an unsecure network was “unconscionable,” while Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chair of the Armed Services Committee, told the New York Times that it was a “concern” and that his committee would “definitely be looking into it.”
Defense hawks’ criticism of the incident is particularly noteworthy given their perception that Waltz is their guy in the administration, a sympathetic ear in a White House dominated by “America First” isolationists.
Still, the person close to the White House who dubbed Waltz a “fucking idiot,” didn’t expect any widespread repercussions from the incident.
“I don’t think there are any longterm political consequences for Trump or the Administration, outside of this potentially costing Waltz his job,” the person said.
But many Republicans on the Hill are hoping Waltz survives. Indeed, while GOP lawmakers privately said they believed some White House official would have to take the blame, House Republicans in particular have defended their former colleague Waltz.
Speaker Mike Johnson told POLITICO that Waltz should “absolutely not” resign.
“He’s exceptionally qualified for the job. He is trusted — trustworthy,” Johnson said. “He was made for that job, and I have full confidence in him.”
Megan Messerly, Meredith Lee Hill and Adam Wren contributed to this report.
