Photo Shows Waltzs Conversations on a Version of Signal
A day before President Trump removed him from his job as national security adviser, Michael Waltz checked his phone during a White House cabinet meeting — perhaps forgetting that there were cameras in the room.A photographer for Reuters captured the moment on Wednesday, with Mr.Waltz seen from the side, seated with other suited officials around a table.
When zoomed in, the photograph clearly shows what was on his phone screen: a list of his conversations on what appears to be a modified version of the messaging app Signal.The contents of the screen indicate that Mr.Waltz had been in conversation with several top Trump administration officials: Vice President JD Vance; Tulsi Gabbard, the national intelligence director; Steve Witkoff, the special envoy to the Middle East; and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, who was announced as Mr.
Waltz’s interim replacement on Thursday.Snippets of some messages are visible.Mr.
Waltz appeared to be using a modified version of Signal sold by TeleMessage that retains copies of messages to comply with government rules around preserving records.The screen shows a request for him to verify his “TM SGNL PIN.” Time stamps indicate that the communications were as recent as the morning of the cabinet meeting.In response to reports of the photo, Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, said in a post on X that “Signal is an approved app that is loaded onto our government phones.” Smarsh, the Portland company that owns TeleMessage, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Still, the moment prompted more questions over the handling of potentially sensitive information by a top security official.
Mr.Waltz has been under scrutiny since the revelation in March that he accidentally included a journalist when he set up a group chat on Signal to discuss details of a military operation in Yemen.Democrats at the time called for the resignations of Mr.
Waltz and Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, citing ...