Quotes
It's so good to see you."
A Kremlin-released video showed Witkoff greeting Putin with a smile and saying
The attacks are not random. They seem designed to intimidate those of us who serve in this critical capacity,
Jackson said at a judges’ conference in Puerto Rico
The American people are furious at Trump and Republicans’ dangerous attacks on their health care and vulnerable Republican Representatives Barrett, Bacon, Lawler, and Fitzpatrick will seal their political fate if they go along with Trump’s disastrous budget,
DNC Chairman Ken Martin said in a statementTo keep the pressure up, the DNC will host a new round of People’s Town Halls in these vulnerable Republicans’ districts, while employing state-of-the-art organizing tactics to activate supporters and put direct pressure on Republicans ahead of budget reconciliation votes,
she said in a statementI think we learned: Maybe don’t use Signal, OK?”
he said in an interview with The Atlantic last month
He just came to look at Waltz like he was bad luck, bad news,
a White House official familiar with Trump's thinking told Axios
I think they don’t want to have two go at the same time so I think Hegseth has more time,
said Bolton of the former Fox News host, who shared highly sensitive military plans to the reporter-laden chat and exchanged deets of impending attacks with family members and his attorney in another chat
Well, who hired Waltz? I mean, who knows who’s in tune with the president better than the president,
Bolton saidIf she had any [influence in Waltz’s departure,] this really is the inmates running the asylum,
he saidAs we advance our America First Agenda, it is essential that we maintain EVERY Republican Seat in Congress,
Trump wrote, explaining the decision
I have confirmation from my counterpart it's turned off. He is going to be here."
The message from the Vance contact read in part
🧵Mike Waltz's abrupt dismissal is further proof of the chaos and incompetence that has reigned over President Trump's White House and national security team during his first 100 days in office,
Shaheen saidSo, he wasn't let go. He is 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."
Vice President JD Vance, in a Thursday interview on Fox News with Bret Baier on Special Report, in partSo ... look, I think 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. What he thinks is that Mike Waltz is going to better serve the administration, most importantly the American people, in that role and I happen to agree with him."
Concluding, the vice president saidWe brought Mike on to do some serious reforms to the National Security Council, he has done that. I like Mike, I think he's a great guy, he's got the trust of both me and the president. But we also thought that he'd make a better UN ambassador as we get beyond this stage of the reforms that we've made to the National Security Council. You saw the president announce that Marco Rubio is going to step in as interim leader of the National Security Council."
Vance continuedIt is important that there be accountability for the sharing of classified information on non-secure platforms. But we should remember that it was Secretary Hegseth who initially shared this material and did so a second time with his family. He too must be held accountable."
Concluding, Shaheen said
Took them long enough. Mike Waltz knowingly made an unclassified chain to discuss classified matters. But of all the idiots in that chat, Hegseth is the biggest security risk of all—he leaked the info that put our troops in greater danger. Fire and investigate them all."
Tammy Duckworth, Illinois Democrat, posted to X on Thursday
Mike Waltz out as National Security Advisor while Pete Hegseth keeps his job as Secretary of Defense. If anyone should get canned, it's Hegseth."
Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona on Thursday took to X, formerly Twitter, calling out HegsethThe stunning amount of turnover of senior staff at both the National Security Council and at the Pentagon is alarming. Purges of senior military officers, mass firings of top career officials for perceived political disloyalty and the illegal dismantling of America's foreign policy institutions only hurts our security and signals weakness to our foes. We should all be worried that these actions are being pushed by fringe elements inside and outside the Administration."
She continued in multiple posts
Reminder that Pete Hegseth is still serving in an incredibly important job that he has repeatedly shown he cannot do."
Mark Warner, Virginia Democrat, posted to X on Thursday