Vice President JD Vance on Thursday put a spin on Mike Waltz’s removal as national security adviser, insisting that the new role he was nominated for constitutes “a promotion.”
In an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, Vance said Trump continues to have confidence in Waltz.
Waltz “wasn’t let go,” Vance said. “He’s being made ambassador to the United Nations, which, of course, is a Senate-confirmed position. I think you could make a good argument that it’s a promotion.”
Vance then proceeded to blame the media, claiming they falsely portrayed Waltz’s departure from the National Security Council as a “firing.”
“Donald Trump has fired a lot of people,” Vance said. “He doesn’t give them Senate-confirmed appointments afterwards. What he thinks is that Mike Waltz is going to better serve the administration, most importantly, the American people, in that role.”
Vance asserted that the president will fight to get Waltz confirmed.
Trump had originally chosen Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to serve as U.N. ambassador but pulled her nomination because of the narrow majority the GOP holds in the House of Representatives, which could make it harder for the party to pass legislation.
Waltz faced scrutiny after he inadvertently added Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a Signal group chat discussing plans to attack Iran-backed Houthi targets in Yemen in March.
But Politico reported Waltz was in a precarious position way before the scandal came to light, noting that his relationship with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles had soured his “too big for his britches” attitude, a source told the outlet.
Vance, who was also part of the infamous text thread, disputed the notion that the scandal contributed to Waltz’s job change.
“If the president wanted to fire him over the Signal thing, which, by the way, was a total nothingburger of a story, he would have just done it,” Vance said. “But he actually decided it’s better for Mike to be in this new role. He’s given Mike the new role, that’s it.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will assume Waltz’s former position on an interim basis. Rubio is also the acting administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the acting national archivist.
Vance took his defense of Waltz a step further, suggesting that exchanging real-time attack plans on a commercial messaging app was actually a good thing for the White House.
“Frankly, you know, I thought it reflected well on me, I’m obviously biased about myself, but about Mike Waltz and [Defense Secretary] Pete Hegseth, that we were deliberating how to implement the president’s agenda,” Vance said. “I think that’s what a good national security team should do.”
Trump has maintained that Hegseth’s position at the Pentagon is safe even after a report by The New York Times revealed he shared sensitive details in a separate Signal group chat with his wife, brother and other members of his inner circle.