Trump moves Waltz to the U.N. and names Rubio as interim national security adviser

President Trump announced on Thursday that he was removing his national security adviser, Michael Waltz, nominating him as ambassador to the United Nations and installing as his interim replacement Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will remain the nation’s top diplomat.

It is the first major personnel revamp of top White House officials, and it is the type of shake-up that Mr. Trump had hoped to avoid throughout his second term.

“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,” Mr. Trump wrote in a post on social media. “I know he will do the same in his new role. In the interim, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as National Security Advisor, while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department.”

Waltz has been on shaky ground and lost most of his influence in the West Wing after it became public that he organized a group chat on the commercial messaging app Signal to discuss a sensitive military operation in Yemen and accidentally included a journalist in the conversation.

Marco Rubio will now hold two jobs concurrently, which no other official has done since Henry Kissinger during the Nixon and Ford administrations. Mr. Rubio has previously served as acting director of both the defunct U.S.A.I.D. and the National Archives.

Tammy Bruce, the State Department spokeswoman, heard of Mr. Rubio's new job during a press conference after Mr. Trump announced it on social media.

Rubio ran against Trump in 2016, but the two have formed a close working relationship in recent months, according to numerous senior administration officials. Mr. Waltz is being provided a soft landing and praise as he departs the current role, while filling a spot left open when Mr. Trump abruptly pulled his nomination of Representative Elise Stefanik, Republican from New York.

Trump is making the shift barely two weeks before his first big trip abroad, to Saudi Arabia and other Arab cities in the Middle East, and during heated talks with Moscow and Tehran. Mr. Waltz joined him in Rome a week ago for Pope Francis' burial and was there during his meeting with Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in St. Peter's Basilica.

Waltz, who has never made the public transition to Mr. Trump's foreign policy ideas that Mr. Rubio has over the last several years, has been pressing privately for harsh penalties on Russia if it fails to agree to a cease-fire with Ukraine. Waltz suggested that idea for dealing with Russia at a meeting with the president and top members of his national security team on Monday.

Trump has been hesitant to remove anyone from cabinet-level posts since taking office for the second time, hoping to avoid the headlines about the chaos that consumed his first administration.

Mr. Trump fired his first national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, within four weeks of his inauguration in 2017, saying he did so because Mr. Flynn, a retired lieutenant general, had lied to Vice President Mike Pence about talks he held with the Russian ambassador.

Trump replaced four national security advisers during his first administration. One of them, John R. Bolton, authored a biography about his time working for the president that was both informative and damaging to Mr. Trump.

Private discussions about removing Mr. Waltz have been going on for weeks, and they have been more intense since the disclosed Signal exchange. 

Outgoing national security adviser Mike Waltz said he’s “deeply honored” to continue serving President Donald Trump after the president announced today that he’d be nominating Waltz to serve as the US ambassador to the United Nations.

“I’m deeply honored to continue my service to President Trump and our great nation,” Waltz wrote on X.