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Signal Chat Leak: United States National Security Advisor Mike Waltz faced backlash recently over an accidental leak of a Signal group chat of Donald Trump administration officials in the US that discussed plans for an upcoming strike on the Houthis in Yemen. Many had called the leak a massive breach of national security, with a growing clamour for Waltz’s ouster. US President Donald Trump, however, denied claims that classified information was shared in a Signal group. In fact, President Trump stood by Waltz and said that he does not need to apologise.On Saturday, Trump reiterated his commitment to not fire anyone over an embarrassing accidental leak. “I don’t fire people because of fake news and because of witch hunts,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News’ Kristen Welker. The Presdient said that he had confidence in Mike Waltz and Pete Hegseth, his Pentagon chief.Waltz inadvertently added Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic magazine, to a group text using the Signal encrypted messaging service where top officials were discussing plans to attack the Houthis.The leak triggered a storm after Goldberg, wrote a first-person account of getting a connection request from what appeared to be Waltz on March 11 on Signal, a popular encrypted messaging service used by journalists and government officials in United StatesDuring the chat, Hegseth included details on how the strike would unfold before it took place.Goldberg said he accepted the request and was then added to a chat group called “Houthi PC Small Group,” where he proceeded to see a series of top Trump officials discuss what turned out to be an upcoming attack on the Houthis.Asked if there were conversations about firing Waltz, Trump insisted, “I’ve never heard that. And nobody else makes that decision but me, and I’ve never heard it.”I’ve never heard that. And nobody else makes that decision but me.In November last year, Trump picked Michael Waltz, as his national security adviser. At that time, Trump called Walz “a nationally recognised leader in national security” and an “expert on the threats posed by China, Russia, Iran, and global terrorism.”Waltz succeeded Jake Sullivan as national security adviser, is a three-term Republican from St Augustine Beach, Florida, representing the Daytona Beach area in Congress since 2019.
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