WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump ousted his national security adviser Mike Waltz on Thursday (May 1) and named Secretary of State Marco Rubio as his interim replacement in the first major shakeup of Trump’s inner circle since he took office in January.
Trump, in a social media post, said he would nominate Waltz to be the next US ambassador to the United Nations, adding that “he has worked hard to put our nation’s interests first”.
Earlier in the day, multiple sources said Trump had decided to remove Waltz from his national security post. The retired Army Green Beret and former Republican lawmaker from Florida had faced criticism inside the White House, particularly after he was caught up in a March scandal involving a Signal chat among top Trump national security aides.
Rubio will be the first person since Henry Kissinger in the 1970s to hold the positions of secretary of state and national security adviser simultaneously.
“When I have a problem, I call up Marco. He gets it solved,” Trump said at a White House event earlier on Thursday.
A person familiar with the matter said Trump wanted to get to the 100-day mark in his term before firing a cabinet-level official. News of the shake-up on Thursday was so abrupt that State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce learned about it from reporters at a briefing.
The national security adviser is a powerful role that does not require Senate confirmation. Trump had four national security advisers in his first term: Michael Flynn, HR McMaster, John Bolton and Robert O’Brien.
Waltz’s deputy, Alex Wong, an Asia expert who was a State Department official focused on North Korea during Trump’s first term, is also being forced from his post, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The Waltz ouster caps a month of personnel turmoil within Trump’s national security establishment. Since Apr 1, at least 20 NSC staffers have been fired, the director of the National Security Agency has been dismissed and three high-ranking Pentagon political appointees have been shown the door.
The purges have seriously hurt morale in some areas of the national security establishment, according to several officials within or close to the administration. Some elements of the government are low on relevant national security expertise and in some cases it has proven difficult to attract high-level talent, the officials added.
The NSC is the main body used by presidents to coordinate security strategy, and its staff often make key decisions regarding America’s approach to the world’s most volatile conflicts.
