Waltz out as National Security Advisor after Signal chat fiasco

Waltz out as National Security Advisor after Signal chat fiasco

Federal judge rules Trump’s use of Alien Enemies Act for deportations unlawful.

A few weeks ago, The Atlantic published the details of a Signal chat between high-ranking members of the Trump administration where highly sensitive information was discussed. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz had accidentally added The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to the chat. Since then, there has been ample discussion about whether President Trump would keep Waltz on as National Security Advisor after the embarrassing incident.

Today, the White House announced that Waltz would no longer be National Security Advisor and that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be temporarily filling that role. However, Waltz is not out of the picture altogether. He has been nominated for the post of US ambassador to the UN. Trump had previously nominated Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) for that role, but she is no longer under consideration because her departure from the House would further shrink the GOP’s tiny majority in the chamber.

Reports have circulated that the administration is also quietly looking for a replacement for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, although the White House has publicly denied this. During that same Signal chat, Hegseth shared detailed war plans for an upcoming attack against the Houthis in Yemen. Last week, it came to light that Hegseth had shared the same war plans in a separate Signal chat which included his wife, his brother, and his lawyer. The Office of the Inspector General is currently investigating Hegseth’s potential mishandling of sensitive or classified information in both group chats.

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Federal judge rules Trump’s use of Alien Enemies Act for deportations unlawful

Federal District Judge Fernandez Rodriguez of the Southern District of Texas has ruled that the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act for summary mast deportations “exceeds the scope” of the law. The administration has used the centuries old law to deport hundreds of Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador. The Department of Homeland Security claims (without proof) that the migrants are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren del Aragua, and that they have “invaded” the US as part of an organized action orchestrated by the Venezuelan government.

Judge Rodriguez, who was appointed by Trump during his first term, wholly rejected the administration’s assertions. “The president cannot summarily declare that a foreign nation or government has threatened or perpetrated an invasion or predatory incursion of the United States,” Rodriguez wrote in his 36-page ruling. The judge says that the Trump administration failed to prove that Tren del Aragua was engaging in “an invasion” or “predatory incursion” as required by the AEA

Rodriguez did not dispute the administration’s power to detain and seek to deport individuals under the Immigration and Nationality Act. His ruling blocks the administration from using the AEA to detain or transfer migrants in the Southern District of Texas, where ICE has held many of the targeted detainees and deportees.

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