WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump stated on Saturday that he would not be dismissing anyone following the embarrassing leak regarding his administration’s plans for an airstrike in Yemen against the Houthis.
“I don’t fire people because of fake news or politically motivated investigations,” Trump told Kristen Welker of NBC News.
He also expressed his confidence in his national security adviser, Mike Waltz, and Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth.
Waltz mistakenly included Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic, in a Signal encrypted messaging group where top officials were discussing the planned Houthi airstrike.
During the conversation, Hegseth shared details about the execution of the strike before it happened.
Subsequently, The Atlantic published an article detailing the internal communication, which caused considerable concern within the national security community.
Trump is aiming to avoid the high staff turnover that defined his first term. His first national security advisor, Mike Flynn, was removed from his position just weeks into his term during the early stages of the Russia investigation. He has also been resistant to yielding to external pressure, particularly from the media.
When asked whether there were discussions about firing Waltz, Trump asserted, “I’ve never heard anything about that. That’s my decision alone, and I haven’t heard anything about it.”
