National security adviser Mike Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, will be leaving their posts in the Trump White House, according to multiple sources familiar with their departure.
They are expected to leave Thursday, sources say. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Journalist Mark Halperin first reported the departures. As with anything in Mr. Trump’s White House, nothing is final until he announces it.
The president’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, is having conversations with some of the National Security Council staff today, sources said.
In March, Waltz came under scrutiny after he put together a Signal chat and mistakenly included The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, disclosing discussions with top national security officials about plans for a military strike on Houthi targets in Yemen. Goldberg published his account, and he initially omitted operational details, but after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe denied any classified information had been shared on the chat, Goldberg published that information, too, which included the timing of the strikes and the weapons packages used.
After Waltz admitted behind closed doors the authenticity of the reporting, White House officials debated whether he should resign, but Waltz never made the offer, and Mr. Trump did not ask him to step down at the time. Publicly, President Trump signaled his support for Waltz by calling him “a good man” who “learned a lesson.”
One source familiar with the situation at the National Security Council said the president thinks sufficient time has passed since the Signal incident that Waltz and Wong’s departures can be framed as part of a reorganization. The president has been hesitant to oust Waltz over the perception that doing so could be seen as bending to outside pressure.
Wong, reached by phone, declined to comment. CBS News has also reached out to Waltz for comment.
Wong served in the first Trump administration as deputy special representative for North Korea and also as deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the State Department. In announcing his appointment, Mr. Trump said Wong helped negotiate his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
It is unlikely that U.S. envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff will be tapped for the national security adviser job, two sources said. Speculation among Mr. Trump’s allies on Thursday was that White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller might be considered, or possibly British-Hungarian-American media host Seb Gorka, because they are so firmly behind Mr. Trump’s mission. Ric Grenell, special presidential envoy for special missions, said publicly that he didn’t want the post.
The departures of Waltz and Wong come after at least six NSC staffers were fired in early April. Those previous firings came shortly after right-wing personality Laura Loomer visited the Oval Office and presented Mr. Trump with opposition research on NSC staffers whom she views as neoconservatives or not sufficiently loyal to the president, one source said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.