Vance pushed back against media coverage of Waltz’s new role in an interview with Bret Baier of Fox News Channel. “The media wants to frame this as a firing. Donald Trump has fired a lot of people. He doesn’t give them Senate-confirmed appointments afterwards,” AP quoted Vance as saying.
He also denied the possibility that the recent move against Waltz could be connected to his involvement in Signal-gate, when the former NSA added the editor of The Atlantic magazine to a chat group of high-ranking officials discussing the Trump administration’s attack plans on the Houthi rebels in Yemen. “No, it’s not,” Vance claimed.
“I think you could make a good argument it’s a promotion,” Vance added, defending Waltz for completing the job for what he was picked for by the US President.
Waltz has been under scrutiny after the Signal-gate reveled finer details of US attack on Yemen and embarrassed the administration which has made several key appointments seen as unconventional.
The former NSA had said he takes full responsibility for the episode. The White House described the episode as a “mistake” but defended him saying the reveal caused Americans no harm. The Pentagon inspector general is investigating the use of Signal, and he has faced criticism from Democrats and even some Republicans.
Trump’s latest shake-up
Announcing a new role for Waltz, Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio would take over Waltz’s duties on an interim role and vowed to “fight tirelessly to Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN.”
“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States Ambassador to the United Nations. From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our Nation’s Interests first,” Trump wrote on social media.
Rubio will be holding two crucial positions at a time when the administration is facing multiple foreign policy challenges – grinding talks to end the Ukraine war, talks with Iran over its nuclear ambitions and global economic uncertainty after Trump’s provoked a tariff war with major trade partners.
