U.N. nominee Mike Waltz defends Signal chat use

Former National Security Adviser Mike Waltz faced questioning from lawmakers on Tuesday about the use of a private Signal chat app to discuss military operations.

Appearing before a Senate panel on his nomination hearing to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mr. Waltz stood by the use of the app during a March group chat of high-ranking Trump administration officials, including Vice President J.D. Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Sen. Chris Coons, Delaware Democrat, said Mr. Waltz should have known about the need to protect military secrets based on his past as a former Army Green Beret officer and member of Congress.

“We both know Signal is not an appropriate secure code to communicate this sensitive information,” Mr. Coons said.

Mr. Waltz defended the use of Signal, insisting that no classified information was discussed and noting that he was following the lead of the previous administration.

“The use of Signal as an encrypted app is not only authorized; it was recommended in the Biden administration’s admin system guidance,” he said.

The incident became public when The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg said he was inadvertently added to a group chat list that included several high-level security officials, including Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

The topic of discussion was U.S. action against Houthi militants in Yemen, who have attacked commercial ships passing through the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea and fired rockets at Israel in support of Hamas.

Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia called the Signal mistake “an amateurish move,” but his fellow Democrat, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, blasted Mr. Waltz and the Trump administration for what he described as a lack of accountability on the issue.

“I heard you just blame Biden. I’ve seen you not only fail to stand up but lie,” Mr. Booker said. “It’s not leadership when you can’t say the words, ‘I made a mistake. I could have done better. I learned valuable lessons from this experience.’”

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the senior Democrat on the committee, criticized the White House’s push for a reduced diplomatic budget.

“President Trump has said that the U.N. must return to the core mission of peace and security, but the administration is also proposing to slash U.S. contributions to the U.N. and eliminate the entire U.N. peacekeeping budget,” she said.

The move would increase the likelihood that U.S. soldiers would be sent into combat zones while making China the largest contributor to U.N. peacekeeping missions, Ms. Shaheen said.

Mr. Waltz deflected the charge, saying “it’s worth remembering [that] despite the cuts, the U.S. is by far the most generous nation in the world.”

He has accused the U.N. of “pervasive antisemitism” and noted that some staffers at UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, took part in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on southern Israel. 

Sen. Mike Lee, Utah Republican, said the United Nations should focus on settling disputes and brokering deals between countries rather than “progressive political virtue signaling.”

“With Waltz at the helm, the U.N. will have what I regard as what should be its last chance to demonstrate its actual value to the United States,” he said.

Mr. Waltz is President Trump’s second choice to serve as the U.S. envoy to the United Nations. He previously picked Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, but withdrew the nomination in March amid concerns that the GOP might lose her seat in the consequent special election, eroding the party’s already razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives.

Mr. Waltz told lawmakers that he wasn’t pushed out of the White House after Mr. Trump removed him from his role as national security advisor. He remained on the payroll in an advisory role until his nomination for U.N. ambassador was announced.

While touting his America First bona fides, Mr. Waltz said the U.N. still has a role to play in world affairs.

“We should have one place in the world where everyone can talk - where China, Russia, Europe and the developing world can come together and resolve conflicts,” he told the Senate lawmakers. “But after 80 years, [the U.N.] has drifted from its core mission of peacekeeping.”