State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce was left reeling when she learned in real time that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be the new acting national security advisor after Michael Waltz stepped down and was named U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
Waltz was recently at the center of what became known as "Signalgate" after he invitedAtlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg into a Signal chat with high-level Trump administration officials, particularly Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in which they discussed military strategy surrounding war strikes in Yemen.
Yesterday, weeks after the scandal first broke, President Donald Trump dismissed Waltz as his national security adviser and tapped him instead to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations while replacing him in the position with Rubio. Waltz’s deputy, Alex Wong is also expected to be ousted.
The decision to remove him came so suddenly that many White House staffers only learned of it Thursday morning as senior officials began circulating word internally. And Bruce could not hide her own surprise when she was asked to respond to the news that her own boss would be pulling Waltz's weight in the interim.
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Openly flustered after being asked about the move by a reporter, she proceeded to ramble:
"It is clear I just heard this from you. ... I have some insights into the potential of certain things that might happen. ... I think it's clear to all of you that you don't want to be ahead of your skis or drawing conclusions or speculating about what may occur. You can have a general sense of what's possible and then you see that manifest, usually."
"I think certainly one thing that I've learned is that things don't happen until the president says they're going to happen so the fact that—this was obviously Truth Social—that is the miracle of modern technology so that is an exciting moment here."
"As I know, Secretary Rubio, this is a man who you all know has worn many hats from Day 1 at managing the nature of things at the State Department, at USAID, and he is someone who is well known by the president. The president makes perfect assessments about who would implement his agenda and in this case he's chosen certainly the secretary and Mr. Waltz to implement his agenda moving forward."
"Not entirely surprising, I have to say, and good news for the American people."
You can watch what happened in the video below.
As many pointed out, the moment showcased just how dysfunctional the Trump administration really is.
Rubio now holds an unusually expansive portfolio, simultaneously serving as Secretary of State and national security adviser—something not seen since Henry Kissinger held both roles during the Nixon and Ford administrations.
In addition, Rubio is acting head of both the hollowed-out U.S.A.I.D. and the National Archives. The precedent isn’t a reassuring one: most historians view Kissinger’s dual role as problematic, given that the national security adviser is meant to mediate between the State Department, the Pentagon, and intelligence agencies.
Kissinger was eventually removed from the national security adviser post and replaced by Brent Scowcroft.
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