1 month ago
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PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: President Donald J. Trump is set to replace Mike Waltz as his National Security Advisor, according to journalist Mark Halperin, who cited three sources.
👥 Who’s Involved: President Trump, Mike Waltz, journalist Mark Halperin, and Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg are central figures. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is also indirectly involved.
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📍 Where & When: The information was reported on May 1, 2025, and relates to events primarily occurring at the White House and involving communications about military actions in Yemen.
💬 Key Quote: “[T]here’s lots of levels of unhappiness, and it’s less about Signalgate than it is about… a general belief that it’s not being run efficiently in an organized way.” — Mark Halperin.
⚠️ Impact: Waltz’s reputation within the administration has suffered, and his handling of the ‘Signalgate’ controversy resulted in significant negative media coverage.
IN FULL:
President Donald J. Trump is reportedly planning to appoint a new National Security Advisor to replace Mike Waltz. Journalist Mark Halperin made the claim, relying on information from three informed sources. The White House National Security Council has not responded to inquiries regarding the matter.
Waltz, currently serving as the National Security Advisor, did not signal any impending changes to his position during an appearance on Fox and Friends on Thursday morning. His tenure has been marked by challenges, particularly surrounding a controversy known as ‘Signalgate.’
The incident involved Waltz inadvertently including Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of The Atlantic, in a classified Signal chat discussing military operations against the Houthis in Yemen with high-ranking officials. Goldberg subsequently released the full content of these messages, leading to multiple weeks of critical media coverage and casting a shadow over Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s leadership.
Despite the pressures, President Trump initially opted not to dismiss Waltz, partly to avoid providing a perceived victory to Goldberg. However, Waltz’s attempt to justify the error during a Fox News interview is said to have further impaired his standing within the White House.
Halperin notes that “[T]here’s lots of levels of unhappiness” with Waltz, and that his supposedly impending dismissal is “less about Signalgate than it is about… a general belief that it’s not being run efficiently in an organized way.”
He adds that the dismissal could happen as soon as today or this weekend, but will likely be “soon”—although he concedes that President Trump could ultimately decide not to dismiss Waltz at all.
WATCH:
Breaking: @MarkHalperin reports that Michael Waltz is OUT at NSC https://t.co/aTZeLl0rE0
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) May 1, 2025
PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: During an interview marking his 100th day in office, President Donald J. Trump expressed frustration and criticized ABC News anchor Terry Moran for his questions, particularly regarding an MS-13 tattoo on a deported illegal immigrant, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
👥 Who’s Involved: President Donald Trump and ABC News anchor Terry Moran were the primary figures in the interview.
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📍 Where & When: The interview took place in the Oval Office and was aired on April 29 as an hour-long special by ABC News under the title “President Trump: The First 100 Days: The Interview.”
💬 Key Quote: President Trump stated, “Why don’t you just say, ‘Yes, he does,’ and, you know, go on to something else,” during the tattoo debate with Moran.
⚠️ Impact: This interview highlighted ongoing tensions between the media and the Trump administration, underscoring issues of media trust and factual disputes in political reporting.
IN FULL:
President Donald J. Trump slammed ABC News and its senior national correspondent, Terry Moran, arguing the corporate media network was spreading “fake news” regarding tattoos found on the hand of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran illegal immigrant alleged to be a member of the violent MS-13 gang who was recently deported to his home country. In a tense exchange, Moran insisted that an image showing the tattoos in question had actually been photoshopped, and photographs of Abrego Garcia in El Salvador did not show “M-S-1-3” tattooed across his knuckles.
An image posted to social media by President Trump had the text added above existing tattoos on the El Salvadoran national’s knuckles to denote what the inked symbols stood for. Abrego Garcia has a marijuana leaf, a smiley face with “x” over the eyes, a cross, and a skull tattooed across his knuckles, which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and law enforcement officials contend are code representing M-S-1-3, the gang’s name.
“That was Photoshop? Terry, you can’t do that—he had—hey, they’re giving you the big break of a lifetime. You know, you’re doing the interview. I picked you because—frankly, I never heard of you, but that’s OK,” Trump said, responding to Moran’s assertion that the image of the tattoos had been doctored. The America First leader insisted, “He had MS-13 tattooed,” before Moran cut him off, asking that they move on to another subject.
“Terry. Do you want me to show the picture?” President Trump fired back, with Moran responding: “I saw the picture. We’ll—we’ll—we’ll agree to disagree.” After Trump continued to push back, the ABC News correspondent finally relented, conceding, “Fair enough, he did have tattoos that can be interpreted that way. I’m not an expert on them.”
Unsatisfied, President Trump continued to push Moran to acknowledge that the symbols tattooed on Abrego Garcia’s hand stood for MS-13. “Why don’t you just say, ‘Yes, he does,’ and, you know, go on to something else,” he told Moran, with the ABC News journalist responding: “It’s contested.”
As the interview progressed, Moran attempted to take several digs at the President, asking him: “I’m gonna ask—if I may, do you think the reputation of the United States has gone down under your presidency?” Exasperated, Trump replied: “I—no, I think it’s gone way up, and I think we’re a respected country again. We were laughed at all over the world. We had a president who couldn’t walk up a flight of stairs, couldn’t walk down a flight of stairs, couldn’t walk across a stage without falling. We had a president that was grossly incompetent. You knew it, I knew it, and everybody knew it. But you guys didn’t want to write it because you’re fake news.”
“And, by the way, ABC is one of the worst. I have to be honest with you,” Trump said as the interview concluded.
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