Trump sacks 6 National Security Council staffers after meeting with far-right activist Laura Loomer

US President Donald Trump fired six national security staffers following a meeting with far-right activist Laura Loomer in the Oval Office. During the fraught meeting, Loomer presented the POTUS with opposition research against some staffers that she claimed were disloyal to his administration, The Guardian reported.

Out of the six, four employees were fired overnight and two were removed over the weekend. The whole situation begged the question if Loomer had more influence than the national security adviser, Mike Waltz over his own department. Loomer brought a booklet of papers laying out the perceived disloyalty of about a dozen staffers, including Waltz’s principal deputy, Alex Wong.

The meeting in the Oval Office was attended by JD Vance, the chief of staff Susie Wiles, the commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and Waltz himself. The fired officials included Brian Walsh, the senior director for intelligence who previously worked, for now, Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the Senate intelligence committee; Thomas Boodry, the senior director for legislative affairs who previously served as Waltz’s legislative director in Congress; and Maggie Dougherty, the senior director for international organisations, the people close to the matter said.

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Sacked officials criticised Trump in the past

As per the report, the NSC officials had recently criticised Trump on social media and some had ties to Republican establishment figures like senators John McCain and Mitch McConnell, whom Trump despises. However, the firing did not include Wong, the prime target in Loomer’s report.

In the past, Loomer has vilified Wong over the work of his wife, Candice, at the justice department, which involved prosecuting January 6 Capitol rioters. She also publicly suggested that Wong sympathises with the Chinese Communist Party.

In the opposition research report, Loomer falsely claimed that it was Wong who deliberately added the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, to the sensitive Signal chat where the Houthi strikes were discussed. However, Waltz has already admitted that it was he who committed the mistake.

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The effect of Loomer’s report on Waltz was not clear. He left the White House with Trump on Marine One Thursday, which signalled support from the president, who last week did not fire the NSA over the Signal chat leak scandal.

With inputs from agencies.