Mark Halperin reported Thursday morning that the National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, is about to leave his job along with his deputy, Alex Wong, and others on the national security team.
Posting on X, Halperin, who founded the interactive media platform 2WAY, reported that there is "unhappiness throughout the national security establishment" as well as the White House, State Department, Treasury Department and elsewhere.
Halperin said on "The Morning Meeting" Thursday that it has nothing to do with Signalgate. In fact, Signalgate may have been what saved Waltz's job for a while.
Likely, he said, "because the president didn't want to be seen as giving into Jeffrey Goldberg," The Atlantic reporter who was accidently added to the Signal chat with other officials in President Donald Trump's Cabinet. Among the discussions were cheering on military strikes in Yemen against the Houthis.
The National Security Council is "not being run efficiently in an organized way," Halperin said, citing his sources.
ALSO READ: Republican lawmaker won't talk about Edward Snowden after supporting Tulsi Gabbard
The firing could happen "today" or "soon," however, Halperin noted that "because it's Donald Trump," it also might never happen.
One new option suggested was Christopher Landau, currently the deputy Secretary of State under Marco Rubio. The problem, Halperin said, is that Landau is doing such a good job that Rubio said they can't have him for the National Security Council.
So, Steve Witkoff might be the one who replaces Waltz, Halperin said. He's a close friend of Trump's and currently serving as the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East. Halperin, however, called Witkoff the "special envoy to everything."
Two of Halperin's three sources pointed to a New York Post exclusive that popped up on Wednesday, saying that he's inappropriately "leaning on" Kremlin translators and greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin like "an old friend."
“Anybody engaging in these kinds of talks with Putin would benefit from having experienced Russia hands-on his or her team and bringing them along to meetings with the Kremlin,” said John Hardie, director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracy’s Russia program, according to the Post.
The report continues saying that Witkoff is "in way over his head," said Halperin. "Other countries are confused by him and people in the administration think he's amateurish.
“Nice guy, but a bumbling f------ idiot,” a source told the Post of Witkoff. “He should not be doing this alone.”
Halperin also said that the reason the story popped is because of the talk that Witkoff could replace Waltz as National Security Director.
Waltz was just on Fox News on Thursday morning. He left a congressional seat in Florida to work for Trump.
Sean Spicer pointed out that the report didn't come from someone who typically covers the White House; rather it was written by Caitlin Doornbos, the Pentagon and national security reporter for the New York Post.
See the 2Way clip below or at the link.
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
