Donald Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz is leaving his role. Waltz will move to be US ambassador to the UN, Trump later revealed – and he also announced new sanctions targeting Iran. Listen to the Trump 100 podcast as you scroll.
Thursday 1 May 2025 19:34, UK
Donald Trump has also been posting on Truth Social about Iran.
He has called for all purchases of Iranian oil to stop “NOW” – and says that secondary sanctions will be imposed on such sales.
Countries who buy Iran’s oil “will not be allowed to do business” with the US in “any way, shape or form”, he adds.
Mike Waltz will be the US’s next ambassador to the United Nations, it’s just been announced.
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, will be Donald Trump’s national security adviser on an interim basis.
Tammy Bruce, the US State Department spokeswoman who speaks on behalf of Rubio’s department, has just told journalists at a media briefing that she heard about the decision from them, and had no advance warning.
Trump shared news of Waltz being appointed as the next US ambassador to the UN on his social media platform Truth Social.
“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States Ambassador to the United Nations,” Trump said.
“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.”
He added: “Together, we will continue to fight tirelessly to Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN.”
Democratic senators have been calling for Trump’s defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, to be fired following news of Mike Waltz leaving his post as national security adviser.
According to Sky News’ US partner network NBC, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer told reporters: “Look, they should fire him, but they’re firing the wrong guy.
“They should be firing Hegseth.”
Senator Tammy Duckworth added: “He’s the guy that started the classified text chain, when there were classified channels available.
“It’s his responsibility, but I also think that Pete Hegseth needs to be fired as well,” she added.
Senator Richard Blumenthal told NBC: “Waltz is only the first and maybe not even the worst who should go.
“The secretary of defence ought to be fired today.”
The departure of Mike Waltz as Donald Trump’s national security adviser comes more than a month after the breach that brought him down.
As James Matthews pointed out in our 18.19 post, it seems Trump has simply waited before getting rid of Waltz for political reasons.
At the time, in late March, Sky News’ Martha Kelner managed to question one of the US president’s biggest supporters about the Signal chat security breach.
It’s fair to say that Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican member of Congress for Georgia, did not want to engage with questions about the breach – which as Kelner pointed out, could have put members of the US military at risk.
Asked by Kelner at the time whether Pete Hegseth should resign for sharing classified information in the Signal chat, Taylor Greene took a line Trump has pretty much repeated today, saying: “Absolutely not, he’s doing a great job.”
Outside the White House a little while ago, Trump still maintains Hegseth is doing a “fantastic” job.
Relive the moment Kelner questioned Taylor Greene in the video below…
We told you earlier how Mike Waltz was on US television this morning, towing the Trump administration line on the war in Ukraine (see 3.49pm post).
He was also sitting around the table at yesterday’s cabinet meeting, and was full of praise for Donald Trump.
“In the last four years, the world experienced a total lack of zero leadership under Biden and then we’ve had 100 days of your leadership with respect, with strength, starting with there’ll be all hell to pay if you don’t let our people go,” he told Trump.
“Dozens — over 40 Americans — have come home under your leadership. Far more terrorists are no longer threatening the homeland under your leadership, and pulling all of these agencies together, including the person, the evil individual responsible for the Abbey Gate bombing.”
Waltz went on to say it was an “honour” to serve in Trump’s administration, adding: “I think the world is far better and far safer for it.”
Timing’s everything for Donald Trump.
The time for sacking Mike Waltz was, clearly, not before the 100 day milestone – the measure of his performance in office.
Waltz had his card marked from the day the Signalgate scandal broke.
In any other government, at any other time, political expediency would have demanded his immediate sacking.
To have shared sensitive military information on a group chat is a most reckless error of judgement. Bad enough that the information reached the inbox of a US journalist -who knows who else might have accessed the information in what is a commercially available app? China, Russia? Iran, the very country that backs the Houthi rebels who were under attack?
Initially, Donald Trump defended Waltz as a “good man” who had “learned a lesson”. He will have known, though, that he’s a man who has fundamentally weakened him.
Waltz’s mistake put the lives of US service personnel at risk and called into question the credibility of his ultimate boss.
The emoji-laden group chat read like the stuff of excited youngsters breathlessly sharing gossip. It was recklessness over responsibility at the heart of government, and it reflected on the commander-in-chief and his judgement in appointing Waltz in the first place.
Watch below: The Signalgate scandal – explained
To keep him in post for weeks following the scandal looked like an acceptance, of sorts, and it didn’t look good. If there are questions about the circumstances surrounding Waltz, there are, too, about Trump’s defence secretary, Pete Hegseth.
Hegseth was also part of the Signalgate group chat and more.
Separately, he shared messages on Signal with his wife and brother about military strikes. Both are involved with the Pentagon, but are nowhere near the security clearance typically required to access that kind of detail.
If Waltz committed a sackable offence, why didn’t Hegseth?
It’s a question that won’t go away.
The answer, I suspect, is that Donald Trump invested considerable political capital in forcing Hegseth into position, in spite of strong opposition.
In a story that acknowledges weakness at the heart of government, Donald Trump has his limits.
An update now from Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has spoken about the deal signed by the US and Ukraine late last night.
The Ukrainian president has famously had a rocky relationship with Donald Trump – most notably during their Oval Office showdown.
But at the Vatican during Pope Francis’s funeral last month, the two men appeared to have a breakthrough discussion.
Zelenskyy said this evening: “We spoke with the president of the United States, with Donald Trump, about our readiness to conclude a deal – we spoke at a meeting in the Vatican.
“In fact, we now have the first result of the Vatican meeting, which makes it truly historic. We are looking forward to the other results of our conversation.”
Zelenskyy said he wanted to ensure there were no delays in Ukraine’s parliament approving the agreement between Washington and Kyiv.
He insisted the deal would not leave Ukraine with any debt, saying: “There is no debt in the agreement and a fund is being created – the Recovery Fund – which will invest in Ukraine and earn money here.”
The agreement will allow both countries to “earn money in partnership”, and it will help Ukraine defend itself, he added.
The US president says there are “so many great things” already achieved during his second term.
He says that includes tariffs – which are a “beautiful thing for us”.
“It’s going to make us very rich, and we’ll be paying off debt, we’ll be lowering your taxes very substantially because so much money will be taken in,” he adds.
Trump goes on to claim yet more tax cuts were on their way with his “big beautiful bill”, which, according to the White House, will “once again deliver the largest tax cuts in history to the American people”.
He said earlier that the bill was making progress in negotiations with Congress.
Firmer news about Mike Waltz now, again from our colleagues at NBC News.
Both Waltz and his deputy national security adviser, Alex Wong, are expected to leave the Trump administration, three sources have told our US partner network.
As we’ve been reporting, Waltz has been on shaky ground with Trump over the past six weeks after he inadvertently added a journalist to a private chat on the messaging app Signal .
The chat included other top national security officials to discuss military strikes in Yemen.
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s defence secretary, was also in the chat – but Trump has pointedly described him as “fantastic” just now in his Rose Garden speech.
White House officials have declined to comment when asked about the expected departures of Waltz and Wong, NBC added.
Some analysis from our colleagues at Sky’s US partner network NBC News now, who have spotted a notable omission from Donald Trump’s speech in the White House Rose Garden just now – which continues in the stream at the top of this page.
The president notably did not mention Mike Waltz during his remarks, amid reports the national security adviser has left his role in Trump’s government.
Trump acknowledged many other Cabinet officials, including those whom he did not believe were in attendance at the breakfast event.
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