Time to \u2018dump\u2019 WTO, TRIPS: RSS economic wing after Trump\u2019s tariffs announcement<\/a><\/b><\/strong><\/p>\nMr. Trump has said he stands by Mr. Waltz, who travelled to Florida with the President on Thursday (April 3, 2025) for a dinner event ahead of the LIV Golf tournament in Miami. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, The Pentagon\u2019s acting inspector general announced on Thursday (April 3, 2025) that he would review Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth\u2019s use of Signal to convey plans on the Houthi operations. The review will also look at other defence officials\u2019 use of the publicly available encrypted app. Mr. Trump grew frustrated when asked about the review.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou’re bringing that up again,\u201d Mr. Trump scoffed at a reporter. \u201cDon’t bring that up again. Your editor’s probably\u2014 that’s such a wasted story.\u201d Vice-President J.D. Vance, chief of staff Susie Wiles, Waltz and Sergio Gor, director of the Presidential Personnel Office, also took part in the meeting with Ms. Loomer, the people said.<\/p>\n
The Presidential Personnel Office has fired at least three senior NSC officials and multiple lower-ranking aides since Wednesday\u2019s (April 2, 2025) meeting with Ms. Loomer, according to the people familiar with the situation. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe NSC officials fired include Brian Walsh, a director for intelligence; Thomas Boodry, a senior director for legislative affairs; and David Feith, a senior director for technology and national security,\u201d according to two people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n
“Laura Loomer is a very good patriot. She is a very strong person,\u201d said Mr. Trump, who described his talks with the far-right activist as \u201cconstructive.\u201d Mr. Trump acknowledged that Ms. Loomer \u201crecommended certain people for jobs.” \u201cSometimes, I listen to those recommendations like I do with everybody,” Mr. Trump said. “I listen to everybody than I make a decision.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ms. Loomer, who has promoted 9\/11 conspiracy theories, was a frequent presence on the campaign trail during Mr. Trump\u2019s 2024 successful White House run. More recently, she\u2019s been speaking out on social media about members of Mr. Trump\u2019s national security team that she insists can\u2019t be trusted.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an honor to meet with President Trump and present him with my research findings,\u201d Ms. Loomer said in a Thursday (April 3, 2025) posting on X. \u201cI will continue working hard to support his agenda, and I will continue reiterating the importance of, and the necessity of STRONG VETTING, for the sake of protecting the President of the United States of America, and our national security.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mr. Trump has a long history of elevating and associating with people who trade in falsehoods and conspiracy theories, and he regularly amplifies posts on his social media site shared by those such as Ms. Loomer, who promotes QAnon, an apocalyptic and convoluted conspiracy theory centred on the belief that Mr. Trump is fighting the \u201cdeep state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump’s national security team has been through a difficult stretch as officials struggle to answer questions about why they were using the Signal app to discuss planning for an operation targeting Houthi militants instead of using far more secure communication means. <\/p>\n
The use of Signal for operation planning came to light because a journalist, The Atlantic<\/i> magazine\u2019s Jeffrey Goldberg, was mistakenly added to the chain and revealed that Mr. Trump\u2019s team used it to discuss precise timing of the operation, aircraft used to carry out the strikes and more.<\/p>\n
Mr. Waltz has taken responsibility for building the text chain but has said he does not know how Goldberg ended up being included. The Pentagon\u2019s acting inspector general announced on Thursday (April 3, 2025) that he would review Defencse Secretary Pete Hegseth\u2019s use of Signal to convey plans on the Houthi operations. The review will also look at other defence officials\u2019 use of the publicly available encrypted app.<\/p>\n
Ms. Loomer, in the leadup to Wednesday\u2019s (April 3, 2025) meeting with Mr. Trump, had complained to sympathetic administration officials that she had been excluded from the NSC vetting process as Mr. Waltz built his staff, according to one person familiar with the matter. \u201cShe believes Mr. Waltz was too reliant in the process on \u201cneocons\u201d \u2014 shorthand for the more hawkish neoconservatives within the Republican Party \u2014 as well as what she perceived as \u201cnot-MAGA-enough\u201d types,\u201d the person said.<\/p>\n
Sen. Mike Rounds, a Republican who sits on Senate committees overseeing the military and national intelligence, said it \u201craises eyebrows\u201d when \u201cthere is a firing of people on the National Security Council or their staff, particularly people that we have respect for, who were part of the Intel community to begin with here in the Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Waltz, in the first days of Mr. Trump’s return to Washington, sent about 160 non-political detailees assigned to the NSC back to their home agencies to ensure those at the White House were committed to implementing Trump\u2019s America First agenda.<\/p>\n
The move sidelined non-political experts on topics that range from counterterrorism to global climate policy at a time when the United States is dealing with a disparate set of complicated foreign policy matters, including conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Last week, Adam Schleifer, an assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, was fired without explanation in a terse email from the White House personnel office shortly after Ms. Loomer posted about him on social media, according to a person familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n
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Published – April 04, 2025 12:37 pm IST<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \nSource link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday (April 3, 2025) that he’s fired “some” White House National Security Council (NSC) officials, a move that comes a day after far-right activist Laura Loomer raised concerns directly to him about staff loyalty. Mr. Trump downplayed Ms. Loomer’s influence on the firings. But Ms. Loomer during her Oval […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[190543,190546,190545,190541,190544,190542],"class_list":{"0":"post-234293","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news","8":"tag-donald-trump-fires-nsc-officials","9":"tag-laura-loomer","10":"tag-laura-loomer-raises-concerns-about-nsc-staff-loyalty","11":"tag-loyals-to-make-america-great-again-campaign","12":"tag-trump-fires-national-security-council-officials","13":"tag-us-president-donald-trump-fires-nsc-officials"},"yoast_head":"\n
U.S. President Donald Trump fires NSC officials a day after far-right activist Laura Loomer raises concerns about staff loyalty -<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n