President Donald Trump said late Friday that he and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster are “working very well together,” supporting the official who has reportedly found himself at odds with other members of his department this past month.
“General McMaster and I are working very well together. He is a good man and very pro–Israel. I am grateful for the work he continues to do serving our country,” Trump told reporters in the White House press pool just before 11 p.m. Friday.
Earlier this week McMaster fired Ezra Cohen-Watnick, senior intelligence director for the National Security Council. A White House official said McMaster determined Cohen-Watnick would be better suited for a different position in the administration.
He reportedly tried to fire the senior intelligence director in March, but the President’s son-in-law Jared Kushner intervened.
McMaster has been firing officials on the National Security Council since he arrived at the White House. He replaced his deputy KT McFarland with Army Reserve Major General Ricky Waddell in May, fired staffer Rich Higgins on July 21 and kicked out Trump’s top Middle East adviser Derek Harvey in late July.
McMaster replaced Michael Flynn as national security advisor after Flynn resigned amid investigations into his contacts with Russian officials during the election.