App used by Trump adviser is temporarily suspending services after reported hack

6/5/2025 6:19

The communications app used by U.S. President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, Mike Waltz, says it is temporarily suspending services following a reported hack that exposed some of its messages.



In an email, Portland, Oregon-based Smarsh, which runs the TeleMessage app, said it was "investigating a potential security incident" and was suspending all its services "out of an abundance of caution."



A Reuters photograph showed Waltz using TeleMessage, an unofficial version of the popular encrypted messaging app Signal, on his phone during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.



Waltz was ousted the following day, a move that capped weeks of controversy over his creation of a Signal group to share real-time updates on U.S. military action in Yemen.



That chat drew particular attention because Waltz, or someone using his account, accidentally added a prominent journalist to the group.