Multiple staff members on the White House National Security Council were fired Thursday following a meeting President Trump had with far-right activist Laura Loomer where she raised questions about their loyalty.
A source familiar with the firing told Kellie Meyer of NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network, that three senior officials and at least two junior officials were let go.
The three senior officials were Brian Walsh, senior director of intelligence, Thomas Boodry, senior director of legislative affairs and David Geuth, senior director of technology and national security.
Trump met with Loomer in the Oval Office on Wednesday, where she made the case that several staffers in the building were not sufficiently committed to his agenda, sources confirmed to The Hill. Other senior staff were in the room, including chief of staff Susie Wiles and national security adviser Mike Waltz.
Axios first reported that “several members” of Trump’s National Security Council were fired Thursday.
Boodry worked as a staffer for Waltz in Congress. Feith served in the State Department during Trump’s first term.
“NSC doesn’t comment on personnel matters,” spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a statement.
Loomer confirmed the meeting with Trump in a post on the social platform X but said she would not share any details about it “out of respect for [President Trump] and the privacy of the Oval Office.”
“It was an honor to meet with President Trump and present him with my research findings,” Loomer posted. “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.”
Loomer also raised concerns on social media about Ivan Kanapathy, who serves as senior director for Asia at the National Security Council. Kanapathy worked at the NSC during Trump’s first term, but Loomer cited his ties to a firm that also employed former Defense Secretary Leon Pannetta and former CIA Director Michael Morell.
Some Trump allies have also targeted deputy national security adviser Alex Wong.
It was not immediately clear if either Kanapathy or Wong were part of Thursday’s firings.
Waltz at the outset of Trump’s second term ordered a “full review” of personnel at the National Security Council to weed out those not aligned with Trump’s agenda.
Waltz has been at the center of the controversy around a Signal app group chat he created where administration officials discussed plans for a military strike against the Houthis. Waltz inadvertently added Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, to the chat.
Some conservatives have called for Waltz to be fired over the mishap, calling the Signal controversy sloppy and questioning why he had Goldberg’s number to begin with. Others have pointed to his past policy disagreements with Trump.
Since the Signal story broke, The Washington Post reported that Waltz also used his personal Gmail for government communications.
Sources told The Hill that Trump has been reluctant to fire Waltz over the Signal controversy in part because he does not want to be seen as giving in to media and the Democrats who have called for someone to be ousted over the scandal.
Updated 2:18 p.m.
