Incoming national security advisor Mike Waltz disputed a report that neoconservatives are helping staff the National Security Council (NSC) for President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, claiming no one is making personnel decisions outside of Trump and his transition team.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller, Waltz responded to a Tablet Magazine report that says Republican Ohio Rep. Mike Turner is boasting that he is “taking over Trump’s IC (Intelligence Community)” by trying to get his staff director, Adam Howard, hired as the NSC’s senior director for intelligence. Tablet reported that Howard “is meant to be [Turner’s] instrument” in the position.
However, Waltz and Turner both denied the report to the Caller. Waltz said he has not discussed NSC staffing or policy issues with Turner since he was nominated by Trump. Turner also claimed he has not been any part of the Trump transition team and that the anonymous report is false. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Mike Waltz Teases ‘Consequences’ For Former Intel Officials Who Signed Hunter Biden Disinformation Letter)
“President-elect Trump has a fantastic National Security team that will reverse the dangerous policies of the Biden Administration. I have not sought to participate in any part of the Trump transition team and have not participated. Anonymous reports to the contrary are false. I look forward to working with the Trump Administration,” Turner told the Caller.
Rep. Mike Turner, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, R-Ohio, during press conference of members of US Congress delegation on July 1, 2024 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo by Vitalii Nosach/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Waltz said, “No one’s making personnel decisions outside of President Trump and his transition team. I mean, that’s it. And anybody that we bring in to the NSC will have been cleared through presidential personnel. So, I mean, there’s a lot of rumors flying around, right? But they’re just that.”
Waltz acknowledged that there’s reason for skepticism after Trump’s first term, which featured advisors like John Bolton and H.R. McMaster, but insisted the second time will be different.
“I mean, it’s understandable. There’s so much distrust after what the president went through in the first term. There’s so much distrust of these agencies now,” he added. (RELATED: ‘Doesn’t Sound Like A Hitler’: Republican Rep. Mike Waltz Says Allegations That Trump Is ‘Fascist’ Make No Sense)
However, just one week after the Tablet report dropped, Turner was unceremoniously ousted as the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI). The Daily Beast reported that Trump pushed Speaker Mike Johnson to make the change.
“Trump personally got involved and believes that Turner is basically an intel community sycophant,” a source familiar with the firing told the Daily Beast.
The allegation has since been denied by both Speaker Johnson and Trump’s 2024 political director, James Blair. A source with close knowledge of the decision-making process said the move came from Johnson and the broader Republican House conference, which was concerned about Turner’s closeness with the intel community.
False information. https://t.co/PxY0rjy1rw
— James Blair (@JamesBlairUSA) January 16, 2025
Turner is one of the most pro-Ukraine members of the Republican caucus, denied that the Afghanistan withdrawal was an intelligence failure, and in March 2023 said that he had to wait for declassifications of intelligence community reports before being able to say with any confidence where the COVID-19 virus originated. The timing of the announcement that Turner was being removed from his chairmanship led to some speculation that the incoming Trump administration was at least aware of the Tablet report and eager to disprove that Turner had any influence.
Waltz is similarly keen to shake off any lingering doubts that he is too much of a neoconservative to carry out Trump’s agenda in the intelligence community. He faced some pushback from the anti-war wing of the MAGA movement when his appointment was announced due to his hawkish stance on certain foreign affairs, including Iran.
He said the people he is hiring are going to be focused on the “America First agenda” and that, at the end of the day, his job will be to push intelligence agencies to execute Trump’s vision. Waltz said his job is to “tee up options” for Trump to “bring all opinions to the table,” but that, ultimately, Trump will be the one making final decisions.
“Here’s the thing about Trump. He welcomes different ideas, different views, you know, but what you’re not going to see is what you saw last time, where you’ve got a Tillerson or a Mattis who thinks they know better than him,” Waltz told the Caller. “My job is to help him execute.”
“The professionals that I’m bringing in, they know the people in the agencies that are on our team that are bought into his agenda. But, look, anybody who is working in President Trump’s White House is going to be bought into his America First agenda. That’s it. Like, I mean, it’s just straightforward. Any suggestion that I or anybody else would do otherwise? It’s just, like I said, it’s just rumor and innuendo,” he continued. “If you have fundamental disagreement with the president’s policies, then go work somewhere else. It’s nothing personal — this isn’t the position for you.”
As of Wednesday, just five days before Trump’s inauguration, the Qatari Prime Minister announced that Israel and Hamas reached a temporary ceasefire deal, putting a stop to the 15-month conflict. Trump and his advisers had been working on a deal and Biden’s State Department spokesperson said Trump’s team was “absolutely critical” in getting it across the finish line. Waltz called the president-elect’s influence “the Trump effect.”
“We’re seeing it all over the world. And when Trump says there will be all hell to pay if we don’t see hostages out by January 20th — unlike the current occupant of the White House, the world knows he means it,” he said.
Pete Hegseth, right, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be defense secretary, is introduced by Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., during Hegseth’s Senate Armed Services confirmation hearing in Dirksen building on Tuesday, January 14, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“With President Trump, there’s going to be no upside. There’s only going to be downsides and consequences. And they believe him. And that’s why you’re seeing the movement that you’re seeing,” Waltz said of the global response to Trump’s November victory. “You’re seeing a move towards peace. And we’re going to get back to the Abraham Accords and we’re going to get back to talking about rail and infrastructure and fiber and growth, not war and inflation. So that’s why I was so excited to be in this job with him.”
Waltz demurred a bit when asked whether he has been involved in any of the conversations or negotiations about peace in the Middle East or Ukraine, telling the Caller, “We’re setting the table now.”