Trump Removes Senior National Security Officials Following Journalist Meeting
President Donald Trump has dismissed several high-ranking figures in his national security apparatus following a recent meeting with investigative journalist Laura Loomer.
According to a senior source who spoke with Fox News, those removed include Army Gen. Timothy Haugh, Director of the National Security Agency, and Wendy Noble, the civilian Deputy Director. Gen. Haugh also lost his role as the head of U.S. Cyber Command, while Noble was transferred to a new position within the office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence.
Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the leading Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, voiced strong concerns about the move.
“I have known General Haugh to be an honest and forthright leader who followed the law and put national security first—I fear those are precisely the qualities that could lead to his firing in this Administration,” Himes said.
He also insisted that both Congress and the American people receive “an immediate explanation for this decision, which makes all of us less safe.”
Sen. Mark Warner, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee for the Democrats, was similarly outraged.
“General Haugh has served our country in uniform, with honor and distinction, for more than 30 years," Warner posted on X. "At a time when the United States is facing unprecedented cyber threats, as the Salt Typhoon cyberattack from China has so clearly underscored, how does firing him make Americans any safer?”
In a follow-up post, Warner criticized the president for removing the NSA leader “while still failing to hold any member of his team accountable for leaking classified information on a commercial messaging app – even as he apparently takes staffing direction on national security from a discredited conspiracy theorist in the Oval Office.”
During Trump’s earlier presidency, several National Security Council members were suspected of working against his foreign policy agenda, with leaks to the press and internal dissent. One such figure was then-Lt. Col. Eugene Vindman—now a Democratic congressman from Virginia—whose ‘quid pro quo’ allegation tied to Ukraine contributed to Trump’s first impeachment.
In a separate legal development this month, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., declared Trump's firing of the Special Counsel as unlawful, effectively reinstating him—for now. The administration quickly filed an appeal, according to Fox News.
Hampton Dellinger, appointed by former President Joe Biden to head the Office of Special Counsel, had sued after being removed on February 7. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled that his termination was inconsistent with legal precedent and the foundational principles of the office.
In her opinion, Jackson wrote that striking down the protections against Dellinger’s removal “would be fatal to the defining and essential feature of the Office of Special Counsel as it was conceived by Congress and signed into law by the President: its independence. The Court concludes that they must stand.”
The ruling included an injunction barring figures such as Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent from recognizing anyone else in Dellinger’s role.
“It would be ironic, to say the least, and inimical to the ends furthered by the statute if the Special Counsel himself could be chilled in his work by fear of arbitrary or partisan removal,” Jackson added.
She emphasized that the administration “must not obstruct or interfere with his performance of his duties; they must not deny him the authority, benefits, or resources of his office... and they must not treat him in any way as if he has been removed” unless the proper legal process is followed.
This court decision came after the Supreme Court blocked a Trump administration attempt to overturn Dellinger’s temporary reinstatement, signaling strong judicial resistance to the move.