US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he is considering naming his deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, as national security adviser.
“I have a lot of people that want the job, I can tell you,but I’m going to be naming somebody who needs to fill the job within six months.” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew back to Washington from a weekend at his Florida club.
Trump announced Thursday that he was nominating Mike Waltz, whom he removed as national security adviser, as UN ambassador while Secretary of State Marco Rubio would take over Waltz’s duties in an interim role. While U.S. officials say they expect Trump to be in no hurry to fill the job on a permanent basis, a number of candidates have emerged.
“Stephen Miller is at the top of the totem pole,” he said when asked whether he is considering him for the post.
“I mean, I think he sort of indirectly already has that job, because he has a lot to say about a lot of things…He’s a very valued person in the administration,” he added.
Waltz came under scrutiny in March after he mistakenly included Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, in a Signal app group chat where Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other senior officials discussed plans for an attack on Houthi targets in Yemen.
Trump said he didn’t lose confidence in Waltz.
“He’s going to the United Nations…To me — I think it’s — personally, if I had a choice for myself of doing, I’d rather have that job than the other,” he added.
“He didn’t resign. I just moved him,” Trump said when asked whether Waltz resigned from the administration.
“You people are so bad. You’re trying to make a big deal. You are so bad. That’s why nobody watches you,” the president said to the reporter.
Read also: US intel chiefs face Senate grilling over Yemen chat breach
