Waltz was photographed checking Signal on his phone during cabinet meeting yesterday

On Wednesday, which turned out to be his final full day as Donald Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz was photographed checking Signal on his phone during a cabinet meeting by Evelyn Hockstein of Reuters,as the Daily Mail reporter Charlie Spiering first noted on X.

Given that Waltz was ousted for mistakenly adding the journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to a Signal chat group during which confidential military plans for strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen were discussed by senior cabinet members, it is remarkable that he was still; using the messaging app yesterday, as he likely fought to save his job.

A close-up crop shows that Waltz had recent chats on his phone with: a Rubio, likely Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, in which he had written “…fully there is time” on Wednesday morning; someone named Witkoff, likely Steve Witkoff, the president’s envoy for Ukraine and the Middle East; a voice call to or from a Gabbard, likely Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, early Wednesday. The chat list also shows that Waltz had sent a text message to vice-president JD Vance on Tuesday, in which the national security adviser had written, “I have confirmation from my counterpart it’s turned off”. The message to Vance is marked with two empty checks, meaning that it had been delivered to the vice-president’s device, but still had not been read or replied to by him as of Wednesday morning.

White House video of the cabinet meeting shows that the Reuters photographer was kneeling directly to the left of Waltz at one stage, so it would be hard to argue that he was anything but careless about keeping his messages to and from other senior officials private.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/may/01/donald-trump-tariffs-immigration-economy-ukraine-us-politics-live-updates

White House video of the cabinet meeting shows that the Reuters photographer was kneeling directly to the left of Waltz at one stage, so it would be hard to argue that he was anything but careless about keeping his messages to and from other senior officials private.

On the one hand, Waltz joins an ignominious group of failed Trump WH national security advisers (Flynn, McMaster, Bolton).

On the other, he also joins an ignominious group of failed House Republicans tapped for key second-term posts (Gaetz, Stefanik, and now Waltz).

As recently as Wednesday, during the latest White House Cabinet meeting, national security adviser Mike Waltz seemed to go out of his way to offer effusive praise for Donald Trump. The president’s difficulties with Waltz have been well documented, especially in the wake of the recent Signal chat scandal, but the adviser took the opportunity to make clear that he was pleased to be part of the White House team.

Less than 24 hours later, it appears Waltz is losing his White House job — while being nominated for a different job. Trump wrote on his social media platform:

I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States Ambassador to the United Nations. ... In the interim, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as National Security Advisor, while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department.

This is, among things, deeply odd — in part because Waltz has no meaningful diplomatic experience, in part because there's so little overlap between his current position and the U.N. ambassadorship, and in part because it's difficult to imagine how one person is supposed to be the nation's chief diplomat at the State Department and the president's top national security adviser in the West Wing.

What's more, with this latest appointment, Rubio now has four rather large roles to manage: secretary of state, acting archivist of the United States, acting administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, and interim national security adviser......

Publicly, the White House backed Waltz, but NBC News reported that Trump had privately “expressed frustration” with his aide. That coincided with a Politico report on a private presidential meeting in which top officials, including Vice President JD Vance, told Trump to “consider showing him [Waltz] the door.”

A day later, The New York Times reported that the president sought the counsel of a variety of people, asking whether to oust Waltz.

The public chatter ultimately died down, but there was ample evidence that Waltz had been privately sidelined in the West Wing, putting his future in jeopardy.

As for his next gig, the ambassadorship to the United Nations is a Senate-confirmed position, and Waltz's confirmation hearings are bound to be interesting. Observers should expect a great many questions about his ability to handle and protect classified information.

As for his next gig, the ambassadorship to the United Nations is a Senate-confirmed position, and Waltz's confirmation hearings are bound to be interesting. Observers should expect a great many questions about his ability to handle and protect classified information.