In private meeting, Vance and top advisers suggested Trump oust Waltz

The national security adviser almost got fired. He still might.

White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz listens to a question from a reporter in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Feb. 20, 2025. | Alex Brandon/AP

By Rachael Bade and Dasha Burns

03/28/2025 08:15 PM EDT

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On Wednesday evening — following a brutal day of headlines surrounding the now-infamous Signal chat — Vice President JD Vance, chief of staff Susie Wiles and top personnel official Sergio Gor gently offered President Donald Trump some advice in a private meeting.

National security adviser Mike Waltz’s accidental inclusion of a journalist in the chat was creating a major embarrassment for the White House. Perhaps it was time to consider showing him the door, they suggested, according to two people familiar with the conversations who were granted anonymity to discuss them.

The president agreed that Waltz had messed up, according to the people, but Trump ultimately decided not to fire him for one reason — for now: Like hell he’d give the liberal media and pearl-clutching Democrats a win.

“They don’t want to give the press a scalp,” said one of the people, a White House ally close with the team.

Despite simmering anger directed at the national security adviser from inside the White House, Waltz still has his job five days after The Atlantic first published its explosive story on the Signal chat. That doesn’t mean he’s safe yet, according to the two people.

In fact, the two allies have heard some administration officials are just waiting for the right time to let him go, eager to be free of the newscycle before making changes.

One of them offered this prediction: “They’ll stick by him for now, but he’ll be gone in a........

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