Mike Waltz To Exit As Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser, Will Be Nominated As UN Ambassador — Updated

UPDATED, with additional details: Donald Trump said that his national security adviser, Michael Waltz, would be departing that post and will be his nominee to serve as ambassador to the United Nations.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as national security adviser in the interim, Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The president wrote, “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’s announcement is the first major shakeup of his second term.

Waltz was at the center of so-called Signal Gate, in which he inadvertently added The Atlantic‘s editor Jeffrey Goldberg to a group chat in which top Trump administration officials discussed a planned attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared the attack plans with the group a couple hours before they were carried out.

Journalist Mark Halperin first reported the pending shakeup this morning, and other media outlets confirmed the news before noon.

According to CNN, Alex Wong, the deputy national security adviser, also will depart.

In his first term, Trump went through a succession of national security advisers, including Michael Flynn, who stepped down after less than a month, followed by H.R. McMaster, John Bolton and Robert O’Brien.

Even before Trump made the announcement official, Democrats pounced on the news. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said, “Mike Waltz’s abrupt dismissal is further proof of the chaos and incompetence that has reigned over President Trump’s White House and national security team during his first 100 days in office. The stunning amount of turnover of senior staff at both the National Security Council and at the Pentagon is alarming.”