Washington, May 2 US Vice-President J.D. Vance has sought to cast the ousting of National Security Adviser Mike Waltz as a "promotion" to be US Ambassador to the United Nations, blaming the media for framing his departure from the top national security post as a firing.
"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 can make a good argument that it's a promotion," Vance told Fox News' Bret Baier on Thursday in an interview from Charleston, South Carolina.
He continued, "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."
Vance said that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's job is "safe" when asked if there are further changes coming to the President's senior echelon of officials, and in particular if Hegseth's job is secure.
"We've got total faith in Pete," he added.
And pressed on whether the move was a direct result of Waltz's actions in a Signal chat with top Trump administration national security officials, Vance said, "No, it's not."
He broadly characterised the situation as Waltz going into the National Security Council at the beginning of the administration, firing people they felt were disloyal, and bringing in "the right collection of people to actually make the National Security Council function".
Vance went on to say, "Of course. Yeah. We fight for all our nominees," when asked whether Trump plans to fight for Waltz during a Senate confirmation process.
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.
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.
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 Truth Social, his own social media platform.
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.
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