Trump's ex-national security adviser grilled about collecting eye-popping salary despite Signal chat leak 'failure'

Daily Mail​

14 hours ago

Trump's nominee for ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz faced tough lines of questioning from a number of Democrats as he grapples with fallout from one of the administration's largest scandals to-date.
The former national security adviser has been embattled ever since he inadvertently added a journalist to a chat on the instant messaging app Signal, which contained discussions of the administration's war plans in Yemen.
Three prominent Democrats - Chris Coons of Delaware, Tim Kaine of Virginia and Corey Booker of New Jersey - grilled Waltz over the NSC's usage of the Signal messaging app.
They also hammered him for never taking personal responsibility for 'leaking' what Democrats characterized as 'sensitive information.'
Booker refused to support Waltz' nomination, because he has been troubled by his 'failure to just stand up and take accountability for mistakes' that Waltz made, and that 'all Americans know that' he made.
Coons also raised similar concerns, noting that to him, 'it doesn't seem ... that the administration has taken any action to make sure this doesn't happen again.'
'There's been no consequences, and yet the president continues to denounce those who leak information. We both know Signal is not a secure way to convey classified information,' Coons added.
'I was hoping to hear from you that you had some sense of regret over sharing what was very sensitive, timely information about a military strike on a commercially available app,' Coons concluded.
Waltz fired back, saying Signal was an approved form of communication for high-level officials such as himself due to its end-to-end encryption. He also noted that 'no classified information was shared' despite the leak.
Kaine also pressed Waltz on the Signal leak, adding that there were two ongoing investigations within the Department of Defense (DOD) aimed at figuring out if sensitive information was shared. Waltz responded to Kaine by noting that he couldn't comment on ongoing investigations.
Waltz reportedly resigned from the role of national security advisor back in May after the leak of the Signal chat.
Responding to a line of questioning from Nevada Senator Jacky Rosen about still being on the White House payroll despite not being NSC advisor, Waltz confirmed that he was 'not fired' and decried any reporting to the contrary as 'fake news.'
In the latest list of White House salaries which is up to date as of July 1st, Walz was still on the White House payroll.
He was still being paid at his previous salary of $195,000 a year.
An anonymous White House official reportedly noted to The Hill that Waltz stayed on to 'ensure a smooth and successful transition given the extreme importance of the role of NSA.'
Back in May, the Daily Mail reported that Waltz, a former Green Beret, was canned from his position as head of the National Security Council (NSC), and then selected for the role of ambassador to the United Nations in a 'massive downgrade move to save face', according to one Trump insider.
A Trump insider also noted at the time that Waltz's 'days were numbered' after he accidentally included the editor of The Atlantic in a Signal chat coordinating military bombings in Yemen, in the scandal that became known as 'Signalgate.'
Waltz suffered public humiliation from the scandal especially after his embarrassing Fox News interview in which he tried to to explain the mistake.
It also damaged his reputation in the West Wing.
Waltz took responsibility for the mistake, but struggled to explain how Goldberg's number was in his phone to begin with, even as he stressed that he had never spoken to him before.
'Well, if you have somebody else's contact and then it, and then somehow it gets sucked in,' he said to Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
Trump gave Waltz a less than enthusiastic endorsement in an interview with The Atlantic last week.