President Donald Trump announced Monday that Lt. Gen. Herbert Raymond “H. R.” McMaster will serve as his new national security adviser.
“He’s a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience. I watched and read a lot over the last two days,” Trump announced from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. “He is highly respected by everybody in the military and we’re very honored to have him.”
He announced that retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg will remain in his position as National Security Council chief of staff.
“I think that combination is something very very special,” Trump said.
BREAKING: Trump picks retired Gen. H.R. McMaster as next national security adviser https://t.co/BHiYnKtXJe
— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 20, 2017
Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn resigned last week days after reports revealed that he spoke about sanctions in a call with Russia’s ambassador to the United States before Trump’s inauguration.
This contradicted members of Trump’s administration, including Vice President Mike Pence, who previously denied that Flynn and the ambassador discussed sanctions.
Retired Vice Admiral Robert Harward on Thursday reportedly turned down Trump’s offer of the position of White House national security adviser after the administration resisted his demands to install his own staff on the security council.
McMaster? That doesn’t sound Russian. He must be under deep cover…
Maybe it’s just me but the optics of three old guys manspreading on that shiny gold couch… not confidence inspring…
‘I read and studied really hard over the weekend’??? Good God, Trump is lame. Did McMaster get to pick HIS own staff or is he going to be forced to use the Trump/Bannon staff already there?
Could have been H. R. Giger instead of H. R. McMaster.
Now THAT would have been something!
Lots of people seem to be making “command appearances” at Trump’s Florida gilt palace.
Given that Trump flies down there from Washington, and that most of the people he makes fly down for job interviews and such are also Washington based, I have to ask:
What is it costing us taxpayers to fly everyone, put them up in hotels as necessary, and so on, when Trump could just as well meet with them in Washington, and we taxpayers wouldn’t get a bigger bill than reimbursing everyone for cab fare?