US President Donald Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz will leave his post following the Signalgate controversy, the White House has confirmed.
A 51-year-old former Republican lawmaker from Florida, Waltz took criticism inside the White House when he was caught up in a March scandal involving a Signal chat among top Trump national security aides.
In a statement, Trump said Waltz would be nominated to be the next US 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,” he said.
"I know he will do the same in his new role. In the interim, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as National Security Advisor, while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department. "Together, we will continue to fight tirelessly to Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
Waltz was blamed for accidentally adding the editor of The Atlantic magazine, Jeffrey Goldberg, to a private thread describing details of an imminent US bombing campaign in Yemen.
The Signal chain also showed that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth provided the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop.
Waltz had previously taken "full responsibility" for building the message chain and administration officials described the episode as a "mistake" but one that caused Americans no harm.
Waltz maintained that he was not sure how Goldberg ended up in the messaging chain, and insisted he did not know the journalist.
At a subsequent Cabinet meeting with Waltz in the room, Trump expressed his preference for holding such conversations in a secure setting with lead walls, a clear sign of his displeasure.
However, Trump and others in the White House expressed confidence in Waltz at the time.
A far-right ally of the president, Laura Loomer, has also targeted Waltz, telling Trump in a recent Oval Office conversation that he needs to purge aides who she believes are insufficiently loyal to the "Make America Great Again" agenda.
Waltz is the most prominent senior administration official to depart since Trump returned to the White House.
He had been on TV as late as Thursday morning, promoting the administration's agreement with Kyiv that would allow the US to access Ukraine's critical minerals and other natural resources.
