Former President Donald Trump had very publicly supported National Security Advisor Michael Waltz. This backing followed the news over the weekend when it was revealed that Waltz helped facilitate a major security breach. Waltz allegedly invited a reporter into a Signal chat room where high level officials were hashing out military strategies. Trump, though, dismissed the entire episode, insisting that Waltz is a “good man” who has “learned his lesson.”
The Select Committee’s controversy came when it was discovered that a reporter had been accidentally looped into a confidential Signal thread. The thread welcomed Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. According to multiple sources, Waltz did not personally insert the journalist himself. Instead, as one of his staffers later did on a call with senior officials, the mistake was vocalized.
Even in his tweet, President Trump signaled that he wasn’t displeased with Waltz for allowing this act of international mayhem. On the one hand, Trump thinks it was an honest error and just a lesson learned for his newly appointed National Security Advisor.
Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he's a good man. - President Donald Trump
President Trump is still convinced that Waltz is the right person to be his National Security Advisor. This is even despite the security concerns highlighted by their incident. As far as Trump is concerned, that’s the end of the story, with Waltz wiser for the experience.
Michael Waltz’s incident underscores the need to maintain rigorous standards for security enforcement. This is imperative when doing the public’s official government business on communications platforms like Signal. This is especially the case when sensitive military plans or other sensitive classified information are at stake.
