Conservative Blogger
Saturday, March 24, 2018
Advice for Trump: Don't fire Robert Muller -- He will clear you in the end
 |
| Opinion by Robert Charles |
Will he or won’t he? Rumors continue to swirl and
speculation abounds about whether President Trump will order the firing
of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian meddling
in our 2016 presidential election and alleged misconduct by the Trump
campaign and the president.
President Trump is a high-risk, high-reward player and he often wins. He’s a man of action who is impatient with delays. But in this case, he needs patience. He needs to let the Mueller probe finish on its own time, politically and legally, because that’s the only way for the president to shut down all the speculation and be cleared of doing anything wrong.
So firing Mueller should be off the table – something President Trump doesn’t even consider. The president needs to focus on his job, do his best to serve the American people, and just hit pause and stop being preoccupied by the Mueller probe. Talking about it and tweeting about it again and again, day after day, simply creates more news coverage and more public concern about the investigation.
President Trump needs vindication from Mueller to push legislation through Congress, manage international affairs with proper authority, protect America’s national security without distraction, and guide America through these complex times. He also needs vindication to win a second term. So waiting for Mueller to wind up his investigation, even if it goes on for several more months, is in the president’s best interest.
For obvious reasons, the president is frustrated. Who wouldn’t be? The “Russia collusion” story is at a dead end. In terms of what is on the public record, the claims of collusion don’t add up. Indeed, the facts known to the public point toward illegal collusion among top Obama administration officials who apparently aimed to stop Donald Trump from becoming president, or hobble him if he won.
Still, the Mueller probe continues on and on and on.
On the public record, we know that senior FBI and intelligence officials were apoplectic – texting with adolescent anxiety, fear and fury – in their determination to assure that Trump was defeated by Hillary Clinton.
The devotion of these federal employees to Clinton remains peculiar, almost religious. Perhaps it was fed by fear of the inexperienced, conservative, and irreverently tweeting candidate Trump.
While federal employees have First Amendment rights to an opinion, what is now obvious is that some abused their positions and power and engaged in a conspiracy to bend the law to serve their opinions. That is not acceptable or excusable, regardless of whether it is directed against a Democratic or Republican candidate.
What is also obvious is that the conspiracy to undermine President Trump both before and after he took office was undertaken without compunction, with gloves-off zeal and continued into 2017.
Andrew McCabe, former No. 2 official at the FBI, was recently fired for substantive, non-political reasons. His self-defense was breathtaking. He wrapped himself in the American flag and in the FBI’s reputation for integrity. But he failed to rebut nonpartisan infractions detailed by the Justice Department Inspector General’s Office, the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility and Justice Department leadership.
Distilled from an array of 2016 election-focused investigations – some already completed, some ongoing—here are some key facts:
· The largest cache of Hillary Clinton recovered emails – a topic we are all sick of talking about – cast the Democratic presidential candidate in a very negative light. McCabe and others chose not to release the emails when they were found in September 2016. That is unforgivable.
· The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (ACT) court, meant to protect all Americans from abuse by a politically twisted Justice Department, was tricked. The FBI’s McCabe, Director James Comey and others knowingly sought and gained an invasive warrant to surveil members of the Trump campaign by using information paid for by the Clinton campaign. Without that information, the surveillance warrant – by their own admission – would not have been granted. That is unforgivable.
· Increasingly, it looks like the zealous effort to first stop candidate Trump and then undermine President Trump had appendages. One reason McCabe was summarily let go, without his full pension, is that he was allegedly untruthful under oath multiple times about leaking anti-Trump material to the media.
· Curiously, Comey, who knowingly reverted to calling the Clinton “investigation” a “matter” during the election campaign when directed by Obama’s attorney general, reportedly leaked sensitive law enforcement information to the media.
· Likewise, one reason former British spy Christopher Steele of dossier fame was let go by the FBI, which had mysteriously contracted with him to provide information about Trump, was that Steele had also been briefing the media on anti-Trump material.
These are just some of the holes in the anti-Trump narrative alleging misconduct by the candidate and his campaign. Put it all together and so far – as far as we know from what’s public – and the accusations just don’t add up.
The biggest take-away is this: If collusion is a bad thing – and for undermining the integrity of any federal election it is – the white-hot spotlight belongs elsewhere, and seems to be moving that way.
Why, then, should the Mueller probe continue?
The reason is simple, legal and is why our impatient president and his supporters – including all those unfairly accused, unjustifiably hobbled, and frustratingly made to wait – should take a deep breath, stop being preoccupied by the probe and simply let it finish.
The reports that special counsels and prosecutors typically issue at the end of their inquiries – on average after 22 months of investigation – are usually thorough. Sometimes a prosecutor “colors outside the lines,” nabbing side players for singular acts of obstruction, perjury without a predicate act, or for unrelated misconduct discovered in the course of an investigation. But generally they focus on the mission and don’t go too far afield.
In this case, reams of exculpatory information have found their way into the media, chiefly by way of congressional investigators and private sources, validating President Trump’s contention of innocence.
Additionally, this information shows that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government is a bad actor – no surprise – and that all Americans, regardless of political party, have a right to be unsettled, indignant, and on guard against Russian meddling in our elections.
But none of this implicates President Trump in any wrongdoing. In fact, Mueller’s probe is helping protect America by ferreting out how pervasive, invasive and invidious the Russian intentions are.
So, in the end, the president and his team have a right to that clean bill of health, whether he answers more questions or lets the record speak for itself. He needs a timely conclusion to the Mueller probe, in order to best serve America’s domestic, international and national interests – to do his job unencumbered by this pasty, perfidious fiction, propagated by misguided former federal officials.
Let Mueller reach that conclusion without interference, and the president and our country will be better off.
Robert Charles is a former assistant secretary of state for President George W. Bush, former naval intelligence officer and litigator. He served in the Reagan and Bush 41 White Houses.
President Trump is a high-risk, high-reward player and he often wins. He’s a man of action who is impatient with delays. But in this case, he needs patience. He needs to let the Mueller probe finish on its own time, politically and legally, because that’s the only way for the president to shut down all the speculation and be cleared of doing anything wrong.
So firing Mueller should be off the table – something President Trump doesn’t even consider. The president needs to focus on his job, do his best to serve the American people, and just hit pause and stop being preoccupied by the Mueller probe. Talking about it and tweeting about it again and again, day after day, simply creates more news coverage and more public concern about the investigation.
President Trump needs vindication from Mueller to push legislation through Congress, manage international affairs with proper authority, protect America’s national security without distraction, and guide America through these complex times. He also needs vindication to win a second term. So waiting for Mueller to wind up his investigation, even if it goes on for several more months, is in the president’s best interest.
For obvious reasons, the president is frustrated. Who wouldn’t be? The “Russia collusion” story is at a dead end. In terms of what is on the public record, the claims of collusion don’t add up. Indeed, the facts known to the public point toward illegal collusion among top Obama administration officials who apparently aimed to stop Donald Trump from becoming president, or hobble him if he won.
Still, the Mueller probe continues on and on and on.
On the public record, we know that senior FBI and intelligence officials were apoplectic – texting with adolescent anxiety, fear and fury – in their determination to assure that Trump was defeated by Hillary Clinton.
The devotion of these federal employees to Clinton remains peculiar, almost religious. Perhaps it was fed by fear of the inexperienced, conservative, and irreverently tweeting candidate Trump.
While federal employees have First Amendment rights to an opinion, what is now obvious is that some abused their positions and power and engaged in a conspiracy to bend the law to serve their opinions. That is not acceptable or excusable, regardless of whether it is directed against a Democratic or Republican candidate.
What is also obvious is that the conspiracy to undermine President Trump both before and after he took office was undertaken without compunction, with gloves-off zeal and continued into 2017.
Andrew McCabe, former No. 2 official at the FBI, was recently fired for substantive, non-political reasons. His self-defense was breathtaking. He wrapped himself in the American flag and in the FBI’s reputation for integrity. But he failed to rebut nonpartisan infractions detailed by the Justice Department Inspector General’s Office, the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility and Justice Department leadership.
Distilled from an array of 2016 election-focused investigations – some already completed, some ongoing—here are some key facts:
· The largest cache of Hillary Clinton recovered emails – a topic we are all sick of talking about – cast the Democratic presidential candidate in a very negative light. McCabe and others chose not to release the emails when they were found in September 2016. That is unforgivable.
· The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (ACT) court, meant to protect all Americans from abuse by a politically twisted Justice Department, was tricked. The FBI’s McCabe, Director James Comey and others knowingly sought and gained an invasive warrant to surveil members of the Trump campaign by using information paid for by the Clinton campaign. Without that information, the surveillance warrant – by their own admission – would not have been granted. That is unforgivable.
· Increasingly, it looks like the zealous effort to first stop candidate Trump and then undermine President Trump had appendages. One reason McCabe was summarily let go, without his full pension, is that he was allegedly untruthful under oath multiple times about leaking anti-Trump material to the media.
· Curiously, Comey, who knowingly reverted to calling the Clinton “investigation” a “matter” during the election campaign when directed by Obama’s attorney general, reportedly leaked sensitive law enforcement information to the media.
· Likewise, one reason former British spy Christopher Steele of dossier fame was let go by the FBI, which had mysteriously contracted with him to provide information about Trump, was that Steele had also been briefing the media on anti-Trump material.
These are just some of the holes in the anti-Trump narrative alleging misconduct by the candidate and his campaign. Put it all together and so far – as far as we know from what’s public – and the accusations just don’t add up.
The biggest take-away is this: If collusion is a bad thing – and for undermining the integrity of any federal election it is – the white-hot spotlight belongs elsewhere, and seems to be moving that way.
Why, then, should the Mueller probe continue?
The reason is simple, legal and is why our impatient president and his supporters – including all those unfairly accused, unjustifiably hobbled, and frustratingly made to wait – should take a deep breath, stop being preoccupied by the probe and simply let it finish.
The reports that special counsels and prosecutors typically issue at the end of their inquiries – on average after 22 months of investigation – are usually thorough. Sometimes a prosecutor “colors outside the lines,” nabbing side players for singular acts of obstruction, perjury without a predicate act, or for unrelated misconduct discovered in the course of an investigation. But generally they focus on the mission and don’t go too far afield.
In this case, reams of exculpatory information have found their way into the media, chiefly by way of congressional investigators and private sources, validating President Trump’s contention of innocence.
Additionally, this information shows that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government is a bad actor – no surprise – and that all Americans, regardless of political party, have a right to be unsettled, indignant, and on guard against Russian meddling in our elections.
But none of this implicates President Trump in any wrongdoing. In fact, Mueller’s probe is helping protect America by ferreting out how pervasive, invasive and invidious the Russian intentions are.
So, in the end, the president and his team have a right to that clean bill of health, whether he answers more questions or lets the record speak for itself. He needs a timely conclusion to the Mueller probe, in order to best serve America’s domestic, international and national interests – to do his job unencumbered by this pasty, perfidious fiction, propagated by misguided former federal officials.
Let Mueller reach that conclusion without interference, and the president and our country will be better off.
Robert Charles is a former assistant secretary of state for President George W. Bush, former naval intelligence officer and litigator. He served in the Reagan and Bush 41 White Houses.
Take blame for government shutdown? ‘F--- that,’ Trump reportedly told aides
 |
| Here is one of the real problems with our government. |
"It's not right and it's very bad for our country," he told a gathering of reporters.
But the alternative – which some White House aides reportedly said would have included shouldering much of the blame for another government shutdown – didn’t appeal to the president either.
“F--- that,” Trump said when faced with the option, sources told the Wall Street Journal.
In a similar outburst last week, Trump reportedly dispelled any notion of firing national security adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, describing such rumors as, “Total f---ing bulls---,” the Journal reported.
Nevertheless, McMaster was ousted Thursday and replaced with John Bolton.
The president's profane candor could signal what some observers say is Trump's increasing confidence on the job and growing trust in his instincts after 14 months in the Oval Office.
That could explain the recent personnel changes at the White House -- and reports that Trump may have an even more dramatic shake-up in mind.
The president has floated to outside advisers a plan to do away with the traditional West Wing power structure, including the formal chief of staff role, to create the more free-wheeling atmosphere he relished while running his business and later his presidential campaign at Trump Tower.
Wife who aided illegal immigrant husband in slayings of 2 sheriff's deputies gets 50 years
A Utah woman was sentenced to nearly 50 years in prison Friday for helping her husband as he killed two Northern California sheriff's deputies in 2014.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Steve White sentenced Janelle Monroy after jurors last month rejected her argument that she feared her husband Luis Bracamontes would have killed her if she didn't help him.
"Ms. Monroy, you did not start this reign of terror, but you joined in immediately after as an active participant," White said, according to the Sacramento Bee.
Monroy, 41, willingly moved her husband's assault-style rifle from vehicle to stolen vehicle after he killed Sacramento County sheriff's Deputy Danny Oliver and before he killed Placer County sheriff's Detective Michael Davis Jr. hours later, prosecutors said.
Sacramento County sheriff's Deputy Danny Oliver
(Sacramento County Sheriff's Department )
Bracamontes has repeatedly said in court that he killed the deputies and wished he had killed more.
The deputies were killed shortly after the couple arrived in Sacramento during what
Monroy said was a wandering journey spurred by Bracamontes' drug-infused paranoia.
Placer County sheriff's Detective Michael Davis Jr. (Placer County Sheriff's Department)
"I feel like my heart has been ripped out of my chest," Debbie McMahon, Davis’ mother, said.
White rejected arguments from defense attorney Pete Kmeto that Monroy was a battered wife and victim of an abusive, threatening husband, who "was armed to the teeth, raving
about killing people" and abused methamphetamine, the Bee reported.
Janelle Monroy listens in court as she is found guilty of murder in Sacramento, Calif., Feb. 15, 2018.
(Sacramento Bee via Associated Press)
"She's not the person who killed law enforcement officers," Kmeto said, noting that Monroy never pulled a trigger during the crime spree. "This client is not an evil person, this client has been victimized and has had a tough life."
In opposition, Sacramento prosecutor Rod Norgaard told the judge that Monroy knew before the rampage that her husband wanted to kill police officers, the newspaper reported.
"She did not commit a crime with the devil," Norgaard said. "She married him."
Monroy faced a life sentence after she was convicted of 10 charges including murder, attempted murder and carjacking, attempted carjacking and possessing an assault rifle.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Bracamontes, who was convicted by a separate jury. Closing arguments in his case are set for Monday.
President Trump issues order to ban transgender troops from service except in 'limited circumstances'
 |
| Capt. Jennifer Peace, a transgender soldier |
"Among other things, the policies set forth by the Secretary of Defense state that transgender persons with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria -- individuals who the policies state may require substantial medical treatment, including medications and surgery -- are disqualified from military service except under certain limited circumstances," a memo released by the White House on Friday night said.
Maj. David Eastburn, a Pentagon spokesman, said the announcement of a new policy would have no immediate practical effect on the military because the Pentagon is obliged to continue to recruit and retain transgender people in accordance with current law.
The Department of Justice issued a statement defending the Pentagon:
“After comprehensive study and analysis, the Secretary of Defense concluded that new policies should be adopted regarding individuals with gender dysphoria that are consistent with military effectiveness and lethality, budgetary constraints, and applicable law," the statement reads. "The Department of Justice will continue to defend DOD’s lawful authority to create and implement personnel policies they have determined are necessary to best defend our nation.
"Consistent with this new policy, we are asking the courts to lift all related preliminary injunctions in order to ensure the safety and security of the American people and the best fighting force in the world.”
But criticism came quickly from LGBT advocates and from the leadership of the Democratic Party.
The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBT civil rights organization, accused the Trump administration of pushing "anti-transgender prejudices onto the military."
"There is simply no way to spin it, the Trump-Pence Administration is going all in on its discriminatory, unconstitutional and despicable ban on transgender troops," said HRC President Chad Griffin.
The Democratic National Committee released a statement signed by Chairman Tom Perez, DNC LGBT Caucus Chair Earl Fowlkes, and DNC Treasurer Bill Derrough, whom the DNC says was prevented from serving in the military because he is openly gay.
“This decision is an insult to our brave transgender service members and all who wear our nation’s uniform," the statement reads. "Instead of fulfilling his oath to protect the American people, Donald Trump and Mike Pence are putting our nation’s security at risk and shoving real American patriots back in the closet."
“Based on the work of the Panel and the Department’s best military judgement, the Department of Defense concludes that there are substantial risks associated with allowing the accession and retention of individuals with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria and require, or have already undertaken, a course of treatment to change their gender.
"Furthermore, the Department also finds that exempting such persons from well-established mental health, physical health, and sex-based standards, which apply to all Service members, including transgender Service members without gender dysphoria, could undermine readiness, disrupt unit cohesion, and impose an unreasonable burden of the military that is mot conductive to military effectiveness and lethality."
In July, Trump tweeted that the federal government "will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military" - reversing a 2016 policy under President Barack Obama. The move caught the Pentagon by surprise.
"Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail," the president said at the time.
Trump's push for the ban has been blocked by several legal challenges and the Pentagon began allowing transgender recruits to seek enlistment in January.
A 2016 study by the Rand Corp. estimated that nearly 4,000 transgender troops were on active duty and in the reserves, Politico reported. But LGBT advocacy groups in the military put the figure at around 15,000, the report said.
Friday, March 23, 2018
The 'informercial' myth: Trump won the White House despite cable news
Ross Douthat, the consistently provocative New York Times columnist, had a personal reason for being put off by Donald Trump's prowess at dominating television.
Douthat, a conservative who is fiercely anti-Trump, was a CNN contributor during the 2016 campaign. He wrote yesterday that "a network like CNN, which thrives on Team Red vs. Team Blue conflict, felt compelled to turn airtime over to Trump surrogates like Jeffrey Lord and Corey Lewandowski and Kayleigh McEnany because their regular stable of conservative commentators (I was one of them) simply wasn't pro-Trump enough."
He has a point—though those few were greatly outnumbered by never-Trumpers—but harbors some misconceptions when it comes to the president and TV news.
The backdrop for the piece is the scandal at Cambridge Analytica, the data firm that just suspended its CEO (largely over hidden-camera footage showing him and others talking about bribing potential clients with money and hookers.)
Since Cambridge worked for the Trump campaign, the column says that whatever voter data the company improperly mined is much less important than Trump’s "hacking" of television.
Douthat argues that Trump created phony news for years as the host of "The Apprentice," saying many Republican viewers "bought the fake news that his television program and its network sponsors gladly sold them."
No question the show helped cement his image as a celebrity businessman, but come on. People know that what they’re getting with these staged reality shows is hardly the unvarnished truth.
Trump's real sin, says Douthat, "was the use of his celebrity to turn news channels into infomercials for his campaign ... With television news there were actual human beings, charged with exercising news judgment and inclined to posture as civic-minded actors when it suits them, making the decision to hand day after day of free coverage to Donald Trump’s rallies, outrages, feuds and personal attacks."
Here he misses the boat. Trump dominated TV news because he knows how to drive a media agenda, and because he did hundreds and hundreds of interviews.
At a time when it was difficult for shows (including mine) to get many sitdowns with Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and especially Jeb Bush—and when they were cautious when they did appear—Trump did all the channels even when he knew he was going to get beat up. He did Sunday shows, morning shows, nighttime shows and cable shows (including on CNN and MSNBC).
And he made news, especially by challenging the anchors and reporters, either in the moment or later on Twitter. What's more, an awful lot of his coverage was negative. And he was often at odds with Fox News then, even blowing off the network's Iowa debate.
Sure, cable news covered too many of his rallies because they were good for ratings. But that was a minor factor in his non-stop media blitz.
Douthat also makes a pretty audacious declaration:
"The depth and breadth of Trump skepticism among right-wing pundits was a pretty solid indicator of his unfitness for high office."
Sorry, but the consensus of National Review, the Weekly Standard, Charles Krauthammer, George Will, Rich Lowry, Steve Hayes and Ross Douthat didn’t ultimately matter, because Trump was able to forge his own connection with Republican voters and disaffected Democrats. He didn’t run as a doctrinaire conservative, which cost him the backing of many conservative pundits and scrambled the usual left-right argument. But in the end that mattered more to elite opinion-makers than the working-class voters in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
National Review’s Jim Geraghty, responding to Douthat, takes a much broader view beyond cable news. He notes that Trump had been on "SNL" and the "Tonight" show, in "Home Alone 2" and even popped up in Bobby Brown music videos:
"Trump had enjoyed the pop-culture and big-media seal of approval for decades!
"Television’s coverage of Donald Trump from the 1980s to early 2015 portrayed Trump as a phenomenal business success, endlessly knowledgeable and fascinating, insightful, shrewd, entertaining, and funny — a larger-than-life character. Why are so many baffled that Trump managed to turn that image into a path to the presidency?"
Two days before the election, Douthat warned that voting for Trump would install "a man who stands well outside the norms of American presidential politics, who has displayed a naked contempt for republican institutions and constitutional constraints, who deliberately injects noxious conspiracy theories into political conversation, who has tiptoed closer to the incitement of political violence than any major politician in my lifetime ..."
Perhaps that’s why the notion that television served as Trump’s infomercial service sounds more like an after-the-fact justification for a victory that that virtually all the pundits insisted would never happen.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m.). He is the author "Media Madness: Donald Trump, The Press and the War Over the Truth." Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz.
John Bolton to replace H.R. McMaster as White House national security adviser, Trump says
President Donald Trump announced Thursday that former United Nations Amb. John Bolton will replace Gen. H.R. McMaster as his national security adviser effective April 9 -- the latest in a growing list of White House staff shakeups over the past year.
“I am pleased to announce that, effective 4/9/18, @AmbJohnBolton will be my new National Security Advisor. I am very thankful for the service of General H.R. McMaster who has done an outstanding job & will always remain my friend. There will be an official contact handover on 4/9,” Trump tweeted.
The president’s announcement came after months of speculation over whether McMaster would resign or be fired.
Bolton told Fox News' “The Story” Thursday evening, “I didn't really expect that announcement this afternoon, but it's obviously a great honor. It's always an honor to serve our country and I think particularly in these times internationally, it's a particular honor.”
But on Thursday evening, a White House official said that the president and McMaster “mutually agreed” that he would resign. The two have been discussing this for some time, the official said, noting that the timeline was expedited as they both felt it was important to have a new team in place, instead of constant speculation.
A White House official said the decision was not related to any one moment or incident, but rather the result of ongoing conversations between the two.
The official told Fox News that the move has been contemplated for some time, and was just about the “worst-kept secret” in Washington.
The president took his time to find a replacement for McMaster because he wanted the “right person.”
While Trump spoke to Bolton many times about the job, the deal was cemented in an Oval Office meeting between the two Thursday afternoon.
Bolton told Fox News' Martha MacCallum that the process of his hiring “came to a conclusion this afternoon, but ... there's still a transition. I look forward to working with H.R. and his team and the other senior members of the president's team on national security and I have no doubt there's a lot of work to do.”
Bolton has previously served as a Fox News contributor, as well as in the Republican administrations of presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, and served as a Bush lawyer during the 2000 Florida recount.
A strong supporter of the Iraq war and an advocate for aggressive use of American power in foreign policy, Bolton was unable to win Senate confirmation after his nomination to the U.N. post alienated many Democrats and even some Republicans. He resigned after serving 17 months as a Bush “recess appointment,” which allowed him to hold the job on a temporary basis without Senate confirmation. The position of White House national security adviser does not require Senate confirmation.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., criticized Bolton's appointment.
“Mr. Bolton’s tendency to try to solve every geopolitical problem with the American military first is a troubling one,” Schumer said. “I hope he will temper his instinct to commit the men and women of our armed forces to conflicts around the globe, when we need to be focused on building the middle class here at home.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., tweeted that Bolton “was too extreme to be confirmed as UN ambassador in 2005 and is absolutely the wrong person to be national security advisor now.”
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was “deeply concerned” by Bolton's positions and said he hoped Bolton would “moderate his positions and work closely with our military, diplomatic, intelligence, and development professionals before rushing into armed conflict.”
In a statement, McMaster said he was “thankful to President Donald J. Trump for the opportunity to serve him and our nation as national security adviser. I am grateful for the friendship and support of the members of the National Security Council who worked together to provide the President with the best options to protect and advance our national interests.”
McMaster said he was “especially proud” to have served with National Security Council staff, who he said “established a strong foundation for protecting the American people, promoting American prosperity, achieving peace through strength, and advancing American influence.
“I know that these patriots will continue to serve our President and our nation with distinction,” McMaster said.
White House chief of staff John Kelly said McMaster is “a fine American and Military officer.”
“He has served with distinction and honor throughout his career in the U.S. Army and as the National Security Advisor,” Kelly said Thursday. “He brought and maintained discipline and energy to our vital interagency processes. He helped develop options for the president and ensured that those options were presented fully and fairly. A true solider-scholar, his impact on his country and this government will be felt for years to come.”
Bolton, who served as U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006 and as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security from 2001 to 2005, will take over for McMaster next month.
“Thank you to Lieutenant General HR McMaster for your service and loyalty to our country. Your selfless courage and leadership has inspired all of us. Most of all, thank you for your friendship,” current U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley tweeted.
A White House official said Bolton is one of the strongest voices and experts on the full range of national security issues and challenges facing the U.S.
McMaster’s retirement comes just one week after the president fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Twitter, and after other high-profile administration departures. Earlier this month, Chief Economic Adviser Gary Cohn resigned amid disagreements over a round of steel and aluminum tariffs, which Trump supported.
McMaster was brought in after Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was dismissed after less than a month in office. White House officials said he was ousted because he did not tell top advisers, including Vice President Mike Pence, about the full extent of his contacts with Russian officials.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
-
Tit for Tat ? ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — A statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass was ripped from its base in Rochester on the an...
-
NEW YORK (AP) — As New York City faced one of its darkest days with the death toll from the coronavirus surging past 4,000 — more th...
