President Donald Trump said Sunday that he plans to appoint a new national security advisor in about six months, telling reporters the former advisor, Mike Waltz, did not resign, but was instead tapped for an upgraded position as the administration’s ambassador to the United Nations.

Trump spoke with reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night, where he was asked about several topics, including the trade deals, Mexican cartels and the national security advisor position.

One reporter asked the president about Waltz’s exit as the national security advisor, which the president said he was being selected for what he called a ‘higher position,’ or an ‘upgrade.’

Trump also said Waltz did not make any mistakes, and, as the ambassador to the UN, he would do a good job.

‘I didn’t lose confidence in him,’ Trump said. ‘He’s going to the United Nations for a reason. To me, I think it’s personally, if I had assurance for myself… I’d rather have that job than the other.’

He also reiterated that Waltz did not resign, but instead, Trump moved him.

‘There was no resignation,’ the president said.

Waltz and other National Security Council staffers were ousted from their office on Thursday in the most high-profile executive office exits of the second Trump administration. Trump’s announcement on naming Waltz as U.N. ambassador unfolded just hours after the news began circulating. 

Trump told reporters Sunday that he plans to appoint someone to the national security advisor position within six months, saying there are a lot of people who want the job, which works into Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s – the interim national security advisor – current responsibilities.

The president was specifically asked if White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller was being considered for the role.

‘Stephen Miller at the top of the totem pole? I mean, I think he sort of indirectly already has that job… because he has a lot to say about a lot of things,’ Trump said. ‘He’s a very valued person in the administration, Stephen Miller.’

The president was also asked if any trade deals would be announced this week, answering that there could be some coming.

But when pressed if he could say more about the deals, Trump held back.

‘Nobody understands,’ he said. ‘We’re negotiating with many countries. But at the end of this, I’ll set my own deals because I set the deal. They don’t set the deal. I set the deal.’

Trump said he is meeting with almost all of the countries regarding trade deals, including China.

Explaining the process further, Trump said he will set the tariff, and a country could agree to it or not.

‘They don’t have to deal with us, which is ok, because we lost under Biden. We’re losing $5 billion a day,’ he said. ‘Think of it. $5 billion a day. Now we’re not dealing with China at all because of the tariffs… Because of that, we’re saving billions of dollars.’

During the gaggle, a reporter also asked if it was true that he offered to send U.S. troops to Mexico to take care of the cartels.

‘It’s true because they should be. They are horrible people that have been killing people left and right,’ Trump said. ‘They’ve made a fortune in selling drugs and destroying other people.’

He explained that the cartels are responsible for importing fentanyl into the U.S., which has killed over 300,000 people this year.

Trump called the cartel members ‘bad news.’

‘If Mexico wanted help with the cartels, we would be honored to go in and do it,’ Trump said ‘I told [Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum] that I would be honored to go in and do it. The cartels are trying to destroy our country. They’re evil.’

The offer was ultimately rejected, which Trump said was because Sheinbaum is afraid of the cartels, so afraid that she ‘can’t even think straight.’

BOSTON, Mass. – Former Vice President Mike Pence was honored on Sunday night for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, in defying his then-boss, President Donald Trump.

Pence received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his refusal to honor Trump’s request to throw out the results of the 2020 presidential election, and instead oversaw congressional certification of former President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.

‘Vice President Pence put his life career and that of his family on the line to execute his constitutional responsibilities. His actions preserved the fundamental democratic principle of free and fair elections and we are proud to honor him,’ former ambassador Caroline Kennedy, the late President Kennedy’s daughter, said in presenting Pence with the award.

Pence, in accepting the annual award, emphasized that it’s a ‘distinction that I will cherish for the rest of my life.’

And the former vice president, pointing to his actions on Jan. 6, said to a standing ovation, ‘I will always believe by God’s grace that I did my duty that day.’

In a Fox News Digital interview minutes after the awards ceremony, Pence said, ‘in all my travels across the country in the last four years, I’ve been deeply humbled by how many Americans have come up to me and just taken a point to encourage us and support us, and it convinces me that the American people know that what ever differences we may have, the Constitution is the common ground on which we stand.’

The now-65-year-old Pence was Indiana’s governor when Trump named him his running mate in 2016. For four years, Pence served as the loyal vice president to Trump during the president’s first term in the White House.

However, everything changed on Jan. 6, 2021, as right-wing extremists — including some chanting ‘hang Mike Pence’ — stormed the U.S. Capitol aiming to upend congressional certification, overseen by Pence as part of his constitutional duties as vice president, of Biden’s Electoral College victory.

The attack on the Capitol took place soon after Trump spoke to a large rally of supporters near the White House about unproven claims that the 2020 election was ‘rigged’ due to massive ‘voter fraud.’

Pence has long described the violent attack on the Capitol as ‘tragic’ and dishonoring to ‘the millions of people who had supported our cause around the country.’ He has emphasized that he did ‘the right thing’ and performed his ‘duty under the Constitution.’ He has also noted a number of times that he and Trump may never ‘see eye to eye on that day.’

While Pence, his family and top aides were hastily moved by Secret Service agents as rioters roamed the halls of the Capitol, Trump argued in a social media post that ‘Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify.’

Pence rejected the advice of the Secret Service that he flee the Capitol, and after the rioters were eventually removed from the Capitol, he resumed his constitutional role in overseeing the congressional certification ceremony.

The former vice president has repeatedly refuted Trump’s claim that he could have overturned the presidential election results. Despite that, hardcore Trump loyalists have never forgiven Pence, whom they view as a traitor, for refusing to assist the president’s repeated efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

Pence in June 2023 launched a presidential campaign of his own, joining a large field of challengers to Trump gunning for the 2024 GOP nomination, becoming the first running mate in over 80 years to run against their former boss.

Pence ran on a traditional conservative platform, framing the future of the Republican Party against what he called the rise of ‘populism’ in the party. 

Among the slim anti-Trump base of the Republican Party, Pence received praise for his courage during the attack on the Capitol, often receiving thanks at town halls during his campaign for standing up to Trump. 

While Pence regularly campaigned in the crucial early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, his White House bid never took off. Struggling in the polls and with fundraising, he suspended his campaign just four and a half months after declaring his candidacy.

The Profile in Courage Award is named for a book the late John F. Kennedy published in 1957 before he became president.

The award honors public officials who take principled stands despite the potential political or personal consequences. Among the previous recipients were former Presidents Barack Obama, George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford.

Jack Schlossberg, JFK’s grandson, who introduced the former vice president at the awards ceremony, said Pence ‘saved America that day.’

Caroline Kennedy, in honoring the former vice president, noted her ‘political differences’ with Pence, but emphasized that ‘political courage is not outdated in the United States.’

And Pence, a well-known fiscal and social conservative, joked about speaking in front of an audience dominated by Democrats, saying that he was ‘the minority in this room.’

After dropping his own bid for the White House, Pence declined to endorse Trump, even after Trump clinched the GOP nomination last spring, though he did congratulate his former running mate after his victory last November.

Trump and Pence were seen shaking hands at former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral in early January – their first public appearance together in nearly four years.

Pence has emerged as a rare vocal Republican critic of Trump so far during the president’s second tour of duty in the White House.

He has critiqued Trump’s controversial and haphazard implementation of massive tariffs on America’s largest trading partners, which initially sparked a massive stock market sell-off, and raised concerns of increased inflation and talk of a recession.

He has also criticized the president’s upending of longstanding American foreign policy and has urged Trump to stand with longtime international allies.

Pence’s public advocacy group, Advancing American Freedom, also campaigned against the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the nation’s health agencies.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., expressed her frustrations on a variety of political topics on Friday, stating in a post on X that she represents the Republican base and if she’s unhappy, the base is too.

The congresswoman suggested that the situation does not bode well for future elections, as President Donald Trump will not be on the ballot.

‘I represent the base and when I’m frustrated and upset over the direction of things, you better be clear, the base is not happy,’ Greene wrote. ‘When you are losing MTG, you are losing the base. And Trump isn’t on the ballot in the future, so do the math on that.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Greene’s office for a comment on her post, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

‘I campaigned for no more foreign wars. And now we are supposedly on the verge of going to war with Iran. I don’t think we should be bombing foreign countries on behalf of other foreign countries especially when they have their own nuclear weapons and massive military strength,’ the lawmaker wrote.

She has expressed staunch opposition to the minerals deal the Trump administration struck with Ukraine last week. 

The White House indicated that the ‘partnership between the United States and Ukraine establishes a fund that will receive 50% of royalties, license fees, and other similar payments from natural resource projects in Ukraine.’

Ukrainian official Yulia Svyrydenko noted, ‘the Fund will be financed exclusively from NEW licenses,’ and the U.S. ‘will contribute to the Fund. In addition to direct financial contributions, it may also provide NEW assistance — for example, air defense systems for Ukraine.’

Greene asked in her post, ‘Why on earth would we go over and occupy Ukraine and spend an untold amount of future American taxpayer dollars defending and mining their minerals as well as potentially putting American lives at risk and future war? Why don’t we just mine our own rare earth minerals that are tied up on federal lands that the government confiscated years ago?’

Another issue Greene expressed frustration with is the coronavirus pandemic, specifically the COVID-19 vaccines.

‘I also campaigned on accountability for the communist and tyrannical acts made by the government during Covid. Yet the Covid vaccine still has FDA approval even though there are millions reported injuries and deaths, and this mRNA vaccine is known to have horrific side effects and DOES NOT STOP PEOPLE FROM CATCHING COVID. And to this day, it’s still on the childhood vaccine schedule, why on earth is this happening?’ she asked.