Sebastian Gorka, the deputy assistant to President Donald Trump who’s been dogged in recent weeks by a slew of reports about his links to far-right groups in Hungary, is reportedly jockeying to move into a new role: special envoy to Libya.
The self-proclaimed counterterrorism expert and former Breitbart News editor has expressed interest in the as-yet uncreated position, The Guardian reported Monday.
His qualifications for bringing stability to the divided country, which has competing governments and has seen frequent jihadist violence since the 2011 overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi’s authoritarian regime, are unclear. The White House did not immediately respond Monday to TPM’s request for comment.
One anecdote shared in the Guardian’s report suggested Gorka’s ideas to bring peace to the country were overly simplistic: Prior to Trump’s inauguration, he reportedly told a senior European diplomat that the country could be partitioned into three parts, drawing a map of the proposed divisions on a napkin to illustrate his point.
The European diplomat reportedly said the proposal, modeled after the three large Libyan provinces administered by the Ottoman Empire until 1911, was “the worst solution” possible for Libya.
The Guardian’s report that Gorka is looking for new responsibilities comes amid other major shakeups on Trump’s national security team. Chief White House Strategist Steve Bannon was removed from the National Security Council last week, and K.T. McFarland is reportedly leaving her position as deputy national security adviser to become U.S. ambassador to Singapore.
