The White House denied on Friday that National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster is headed out of the Trump administration’s chaotic West Wing.
‘General McMaster’s not going anywhere,’ Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said on ‘Fox & Friends.’
‘As the president said yesterday in the Oval Office to a number of people, he thinks he is doing a great job and glad he is here.’
NBC News reported Thursday that Chief of Staff John Kelly and Defense Secretary James Mattis were plotting to force out McMaster, a three-star Army general.
National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton was quick to swat down the report Thursday night.
‘I was just with President Trump and H.R. McMaster in the Oval Office. President Trump said that the NBC News story is “fake news,” and told McMaster that he is doing a great job,’ Anton said.
‘General McMaster’s not going anywhere,’ Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said on ‘Fox & Friends,’ swatting down reports that National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster has one foot out the door of the White House
McMaster, a three-star Army general, is not on his way out of the administration, the White House insisted Friday, despite an NBC News report to the contrary
McMaster has had a fractious relationship with President Donald Trump during his year on the job
NBC News reported Thursday that Chief of Staff John Kelly (left) and Secretary of Defense James Mattis (right) – both of them generals – are plotting to replace McMaster, but the White House disputed that on Friday
NBC’s report came just 24 hours after Trump-whisperer Hope Hicks said she would leave the president’s side for he first time in more than three year, and shortly after former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci predicted there would be a larger exodus to come.
McMaster irked the president in February after saying at the Munich Security Conference that indictments emerging from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation were ‘incontrovertible’ proof that Russians meddled in the 2016 U.S. elections.
Stephen Biegun, vice president of International Governmental Affairs for Ford Motor Company, is being touted as one possible replacement for McMaster
‘General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems,’ Trump tweeted in a public slap.
‘Remember the Dirty Dossier, Uranium, Speeches, Emails and the Podesta Company!’ he added then.
Days later Press Secretary Sarah Sanders insisted that McMaster was still in the president’s good graces.
‘He still has confidence in General McMaster,’ she told reporters on Feb. 20. ‘I spoke to him specifically about that answer. He said that he liked the General’s answer, but just thought that little addendum would be helpful to add.’
On Friday morning as 60-mph wind gusts gripped Washington, Sanders disputed reports that Trump’s West Wing is a turbulent pressure-cooker with little direction and a senior staff hanging on by their fingernails.
‘The chaos that I see most this morning – I left three preschoolers and a bunch of flashlights with the power out at my house,’ she said during her Friday morning Fox News appearance.
McMaster’s departure would put Trump in the position of having a third national security advisor in barely 14 months
‘It was pretty chaotic and certainly far more chaotic early this morning than when I got to the office.’
‘If this is chaos, I think the American people are glad for it,’ Sanders added.
‘Because we just passed the biggest tax cuts in history, ISIS is on the run, we are rebuilding our military. We are rebuilding the judiciary, remaking what that looks like. The economy is strong.’
NBC reported Thursday that Ford Motor Company Vice President of International Affairs Stephen Biegun is one likely successor to McMaster.
Biegun was on the National Security Council staff during the George W. Bush administration and served as a senior aide to then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice – who recently introduced him to Mattis.
McMaster got his job in the wake of Michael Flynn’s scandalous departure after just 24 days on the job.
McMaster irked Trump last month by saying indictments emerging from Robert Mueller’s investigation were ‘incontrovertible’ proof that Russians meddled in the 2016 U.S. elections
Flynn was forced out following news that he had lied to Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with Russia’s then-ambassador, Sergey Kislyak. He later pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about the episode.
The Pentagon is expected to offer McMaster a new job at his three-star level, possibly an overseas command.
It’s also conceivable that he might get his fourth star as a consolation prize, according to NBC.
White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said in a statement about McMaster that ‘[w]e frequently face rumor and innuendo about senior administration officials. There are no personnel announcements at this time.’
McMaster isn’t the only West Wing power player with one foot out the door: White House Communications Director Hope Hicks announced Wednesday that she will be leaving soon
Anthony Scaramucci predicted Thursday morning that the Trump White House would soon see a mass exodus driven by aides’ frustration with John Kelly’s management style
Scaramucci’s warning about a West Wing brain-drain came Thursday morning in a Bloomberg Politics interview as he bashed Kelly’s iron-fisted management style.
‘There will be a further evacuation of talent,’ he predicted. ‘Fear and intimidation doesn’t work in a civilian organization. If he had any honor he’d resign.’
‘Does the president want to lose everyone because of General Jackass?’ asked Scaramucci.