Trump to Continue 100 Days Celebration by Firing His First High-Level Appointee

In a sig­nif­i­cant shake­up inside Don­ald Trump’s admin­is­tra­tion, Nation­al Secu­ri­ty Advis­er Mike Waltz is step­ping down—marking the first high-lev­el depar­ture of Trump’s new term just 100 days in. The exit comes on the heels of a wide­ly crit­i­cized lapse in nation­al secu­ri­ty, now being dubbed “Sig­nal­gate.”

Waltz, a for­mer con­gress­man from Flori­da, land­ed in hot water in March after mis­tak­en­ly adding a jour­nal­ist to an unse­cured Sig­nal chat where senior offi­cials were dis­cussing mil­i­tary attack plans. Among those offi­cials was Defense Sec­re­tary Pete Hegseth, who also report­ed­ly sent clas­si­fied infor­ma­tion to his wife via Sig­nal. The fall­out was imme­di­ate, with both men fac­ing fierce back­lash over the breach.

Despite ear­ly indi­ca­tions that Trump would stand by his appointees—he told reporters that Waltz had “learned his les­son” and was “doing his best”—Waltz appears to have lost the con­fi­dence of oth­ers in the admin­is­tra­tion. The White House has not yet for­mal­ly announced his replace­ment, but sev­er­al out­lets, includ­ing CBS News and Politi­co, have con­firmed that his dis­missal is immi­nent.

The Signalgate Scandal

The scan­dal broke open when it was revealed that Waltz acci­den­tal­ly invit­ed Jef­frey Gold­berg, edi­tor-in-chief of The Atlantic, into a pri­vate Sig­nal group where Trump’s inner cir­cle was active­ly dis­cussing sen­si­tive mil­i­tary oper­a­tions. The mis­take, labeled by some insid­ers as a “Veep-lev­el gaffe,” ignit­ed dis­be­lief and mock­ery inside the admin­is­tra­tion.

Rolling Stone report­ed that Trump staffers were already frus­trat­ed with Waltz’s per­for­mance even before the inci­dent, and the Sig­nal chat deba­cle only ampli­fied those con­cerns. “Is Waltz just Jon­ah from Veep then?” one appointee report­ed­ly joked—referring to the hap­less char­ac­ter from the polit­i­cal satire show.

While Pete Hegseth, who played a more direct role in shar­ing the mil­i­tary plans, remains in his posi­tion for now, it’s clear that Waltz is the one tak­ing the fall.

What’s Next for Trump’s National Security Team?

Waltz’s deputy, Alex Wong, is also expect­ed to leave along­side him. As of now, there’s no offi­cial word on who will replace Waltz, but sources close to the admin­is­tra­tion say the announce­ment could come as ear­ly as this week.

Waltz was present at a Cab­i­net meet­ing just a day before news of his depar­ture broke. In a final, pub­lic show of sup­port, he praised Trump: “Mr. Pres­i­dent, the last four years the world expe­ri­enced a lack of lead­er­ship under Biden, and then we’ve had 100 days of your lead­er­ship with respect and with strength.”

The moment was like­ly his swan song.

A Bumpy Start to the Second Term?

While Trump con­tin­ues to tout his achieve­ments dur­ing his first 100 days back in office, the depar­ture of a key nation­al secu­ri­ty fig­ure under such con­tro­ver­sial cir­cum­stances rais­es fresh ques­tions about com­pe­tence and inter­nal cohe­sion.

The inci­dent also under­scores ongo­ing con­cerns about how this admin­is­tra­tion han­dles clas­si­fied infor­ma­tion. Though Trump’s pub­lic tone has remained defi­ant, the removal of Waltz sug­gests that behind the scenes, con­fi­dence in cer­tain play­ers may be run­ning thin.

As the White House looks to reset and refo­cus its nation­al secu­ri­ty lead­er­ship, the spot­light now turns to who will take the reins—and whether they can restore the dis­ci­pline that crit­ics say has already slipped.