Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, known for having started the now-infamous Signal group chat that involved a journalist, reportedly left sensitive information public on his personal Venmo account, according to a report.
Waltz — along with other high-ranking officials including White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles — opened his account to the public with a list of “friends” and other details that could potentially be exploited by foreign intelligence services, Wired reported.
The Venmo account was clearly listed under the name “Michael Waltz” and bore a photo of Waltz with a list of the names of people known to be associated with him.
It was still open to the public as of Wednesday afternoon. When Wired sent a request for comment to the White House about the account, both Venmo accounts appearing to belong to both Waltz and Wiles were suddenly switched to private.
Before it was changed, the Venmo account under Waltz’s name included a 328-person friend list that included White House officials such as U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, and former White House communications director Hope Hicks, several politicians as well as a wide range of media figures, such as Bret Baier and Brian Kilmeade of Fox News, and Brianna Keilar and Kristen Holmes of CNN, Wired noted.
Wired also reported that noted conspiracy theorist Ivan Raiklin, who calls himself the “the secretary of retribution,” and once created a deep state target list, was also one of Waltz’s Venmo friends.
The White House did not provide further information to Wired about the accounts. The Independent has also requested comment.
The news emerges after Waltz took “full responsibility” for the alarming breach of national security via a Signal chat with top Trump administration officials, which was first reported by The Atlantic on Monday. The publication’s editor-in-chief, Jeremy Goldberg, was inadvertently added to the Signal chat earlier this month that involved specific details about U.S. bombing operations in Yemen which occurred later that same day.
Other members of the Signal chat group — named “Houthi PC small group” — included senior Cabinet members Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as Wiles.
Last July Wired also reported that Vance had left his Venmo account public, revealing a contacts list including members of the infamous right-wing Project 2025, government officials, former Yale contemporaries, and far-right media figures.
