Mike Waltz at his Tuesday Senate confirmation hearing faced scrutiny for retaining his six-figure White House salary despite being ousted from his post as national security adviser.
Trump in May removed Waltz from his role at the National Security Agency and announced his nomination as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Waltz had by then been embroiled in scandal for months over the “Signalgate” fiasco, in which he created a Signal group chat to discuss classified planned military strikes in Yemen and accidentally added Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.
And yet, according to the Associated Press, Waltz has remained on the White House payroll, receiving a $195,200 annual taxpayer-funded salary.
Senator Jacky Rosen of Nevada brought this up as Waltz testified before the Senate Tuesday, and the Trump nominee hit back with a tried and true Trumpism: fake news.
“Despite being removed from your role as national security adviser in May—removed from your role, right, not working—surprisingly, you’ve been on the White House payroll for the last few months,” Rosen said. “Throughout this hearing, you’ve made assertations that, if confirmed, you would root out waste and unnecessary overhead at the U.N. So, can you confirm for us whether you’ve been receiving a salary from the White House since being let go at the NSA?”
Waltz held that he “was not fired” and was “kept on as an adviser transitioning a number of important activities.”
“So you’re saying that you were not dismissed as was publicly reported?” Rosen asked.
“The reporting, senator, is fake news, which shouldn’t surprise anyone,” Waltz said.
Indeed, a White House official told the AP that Waltz stayed on to “ensure a smooth and successful transition,” and, per Politico, his title was changed to merely “adviser.” It’s unclear exactly what Waltz has been doing for the past few months, yet his six-figure salary has remained unchanged—a situation in which the nominee, who’s promised to bring Trump’s mission against purported “waste” to the U.N., apparently sees no irony.
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