Waltz Seemed to Be Using Signal in Cabinet Meeting

The day before Mike Waltz was ousted as President Trump's national security adviser, photographers captured him apparently using a modified version of the Signal app that got him in trouble during a Cabinet meeting. Reuters photos taken Wednesday show parts of several conversations Waltz was having about government business with people the display identified as Vice President JD Vance and "Rubio"—presumably Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Washington Post reports. It was the use of Signal on a high-level chat about bombing Houthi targets that launched criticism of Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—who's now facing a broader investigation. The details:

• Waltz: In his last full day on the job, Waltz appeared to be using the TM SGNL version of Signal, which archives messages. That would make it in compliance with presidential records preservation requirements, though security is still an issue for Signal. The fact that Waltz allowed his Signal chat list and some of his texts to be seen by a photographer standing next to him during a Cabinet meeting might also be a problem for Waltz, the Guardian points out. The display indicated Waltz also had been texting Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, per ABC News.
• Hegseth: The Pentagon's inspector general, already investigating the defense secretary's handling of the Signal chat about military strikes, now will dig into another Signal conversation. This one concerns a chat about military plans that included Hegseth's wife and brother, the Wall Street Journal reports. Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said the second Signal chat "is so similar and it raises the same issues as the initial chat." Hegseth has insisted he posted no classified information and blames the outcry on political opponents.

(More Mike Waltz stories.)