'Somebody has to go down': Trump allies take aim at Michael Waltz [View all]

Source: NBC News

March 26, 2025, 8:55 PM EDT


A growing number of Donald Trump’s allies are calling on the president to fire his national security adviser, Michael Waltz, to try to mitigate the political fallout from revelations that the nation’s top defense officials discussed sensitive military operations in a commercial app — and inadvertently included a journalist in their chat group.

According to screenshots published by The Atlantic, a Signal user named “Michael Waltz” initially invited Jeffrey Goldberg, the magazine’s editor in chief, into the conversation on the app Signal. The group, according to The Atlantic, appears to have included Vice President JD Vance, several other members of the Cabinet involved in national security issues, Trump chief of staff Susie Wiles and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller. Some of the people were identified only by their initials.

Trump and his aides have insisted that none of the information about strikes against Yemeni Houthis — a group the United States has designated as a foreign terrorist organization — was classified when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared it with the group.

On Wednesday, however, Trump was less definitive. "That’s what I’ve heard. I don’t know. I’m not sure. You have to ask the various people involved. I really don’t know," Trump replied when reporters asked him whether still believes nothing classified was shared.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-allies-take-aim-michael-waltz-rcna198289