Trump Moves to Fire Several National Security Officials Deemed Insufficiently Loyal, AP Sources Say

BY  MATTHEW LEE, AAMER MADHANI AND ZEKE MILLER

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has moved to fire several White House National Security Council officials after he was urged by far-right activist Laura Loomer to purge staffers she deemed insufficiently loyal to his “Make America Great Again” agenda, several people familiar with the matter said Thursday.

Loomer presented her research to Trump in an Oval Office meeting on Wednesday, making her case for the firings, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters. Vice President JD Vance, chief of staff Susie Wiles, national security adviser Mike Waltz and Sergio Gor, the director of the Presidential Personnel Office, took part in the meeting, the people said.

NSC spokesperson Brian Hughes declined to comment on the meeting or the firings, insisting that the White House does not discuss personnel matters.

The Presidential Personnel Office has moved to dismiss at least three senior NSC officials and multiple lower-ranking aides.

Loomer, who has promoted 9/11 conspiracy theories, was a frequent presence on the campaign trail during Trump’s 2024 successful White House run. More recently, she’s been speaking out on social media about some members of Trump’s national security team that she insists can’t be trusted.

“It was an honor to meet with President Trump and present him with my research findings,” Loomer said in a posting on X. “I will continue working hard to support his agenda, and I will continue reiterating the importance of, and the necessity of STRONG VETTING, for the sake of protecting the President of the United States of America, and our national security.”

Trump has a long history of elevating and associating with people who trade in falsehoods and conspiracy theories, and he regularly amplifies posts on his social media site shared by those like Loomer, who promote QAnon, an apocalyptic and convoluted conspiracy theory centered on the belief that Trump is fighting the “deep state.”

The move by Trump to push out staff comes at a moment when Waltz is fighting back calls for his ouster after using the publicly available encrypted Signal app to discuss planning for the sensitive March 15 military operation targeting Houthi militants in Yemen. Trump has said he stands by Waltz.

A journalist, The Atlantic magazine’s Jeffrey Goldberg, was mistakenly added to the chain and revealed that Trump’s team used it to discuss precise timing of the operation, aircraft used to carry out the strikes and more.

Waltz has taken responsibility for building the text chain but has said he does not know how Goldberg ended up being included.

Loomer, in the leadup to Wednesday’s meeting with Trump, had complained to sympathetic administration officials that she had been excluded from the NSC vetting process as Waltz built up his staff, according to one person familiar with the matter. She believes Waltz was too reliant in the process on “neocons” — shorthand for the more hawkish neoconservatives within the Republican Party — as well as what she perceived as “not-MAGA-enough” types, the person said.

Waltz, in the first days of Trump’s return to the White House, sent about 160 nonpolitical detailees assigned to the NSC back to their home agencies to ensure personnel were committed to implementing Trump’s America First agenda.

The move sidelined nonpolitical experts on topics that range from counterterrorism to global climate policy at a time when the United States is dealing with a disparate set of complicated foreign policy matters, including conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Last week, Adam Schleifer, an assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, was fired without explanation in a terse email from the White House Presidential Personnel Office shortly after Loomer posted about him on social media, according to a person familiar with the matter.

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This story has been corrected to show the surname of The Atlantic journalist is Goldberg, not Rosenberg.

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Lee reported from Brussels.