White House insists it's case closed on Waltz and Signalgate

The Trump administration says it’s moving on from Signalgate — and that embattled national security adviser Mike Waltz is keeping his job.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday that the administration has decided to put the embarrassing scandal in the rear view mirror, even if others aren't ready to do the same.

“As the president has made it very clear, Mike Waltz continues to be an important part of his national security team,” Leavitt said. “And this case has been closed here at the White House as far as we are concerned.”

Her quotes capped off a remarkable, week-long stretch that began after Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported that he’d been added to a Signal group chat with senior White House defense officials, including Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in which the officials discussed plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.

What followed was a classic Washington political frenzy. Trump weighed firing Waltz, who took responsibility for accidentally adding Goldberg to the group chat. Democrats — and some Republicans — ripped the senior officials for using the Signal messaging app to divulge classified information. Even pro-Trump media figures expressed frustration with how the administration handled the fallout.

The White House is only too eager to stop talking about an episode that has captured multiple news cycles and attracted unwelcome scrutiny.

“There have been steps made to ensure that something like that can obviously never happen again,” Leavitt said at a White House briefing. “And we’re moving forward.”

Asked by POLITICO for details about those steps, the White House declined further comment.