National security adviser Michael Waltz reportedly conducted business via Gmail

Michael Waltz, the embattled national security adviser to Donald Trump, and other members of the national security council have reportedly used personal Gmail accounts to conduct government business.

The apparent use of Gmail, a relatively insecure method of communication for high-level government officials, places further scrutiny upon Waltz, who is already under pressure after adding a journalist to a group chat on the commercial Signal app, where top US officials then planned and celebrated a US airstrike in Yemen last month.

The revelations of the Gmail use come from the Washington Post, which said it has reviewed documents and interviewed three unnamed officials about the apparent security lapse.

Waltz had “potentially exploitable information” sent to his Gmail, such as his schedule and other work documents, the Post reported.

One of Waltz’s aides on the national security council, meanwhile, allegedly used Gmail for more sensitive material, such as discussing military positions and weapons systems with colleagues in other government agencies who used their government-issued accounts.

A spokesperson for the national security council denied to the Post that Waltz had used Gmail improperly. “Waltz didn’t and wouldn’t send classified information on an open account,” the spokesperson said.

This latest episode, however, risks further damage to the standing of Waltz following the revelation last week that he added Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic magazine, to a Signal group chat that involved senior figures such as JD Vance, the US vice-president, and Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, that discussed details of an airstrike upon the Houthi rebel group in Yemen.

Waltz has said that Goldberg’s number was somehow “sucked in” to his phone, a comment that drew scorn from Goldberg and others. Trump has, however, declined to fire Waltz, instead calling the incident a “glitch”.

Prior to his role as the president’s national security adviser, Waltz was highly critical of Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server when she was secretary of state.

Democrats have been pushing for Waltz and Hegseth to resign amid the scandal. “Mike Waltz is totally and completely unqualified to be in a sensitive national security position, as is the case with the Trump national security team,” Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, told Axios.

Jeffries said that Hegseth and Waltz should be fired if they did not resign immediately.