TRUMP SHAKES UP FOREIGN TEAM
MCMASTER OUT, POLICY HAWK BOLTON IN AHEAD OF SUMMIT
U.S. President Donald Trump has replaced national security adviser and army veteran H.R. McMaster as he revamps his foreign policy team. McMaster’s departure comes on the same day that John Dowd, Trump’s lead lawyer in the special counsel’s Russia investigation, resigned — an exit that removes the primary negotiator and legal strategist who had been moulding Trump’s defence.
Late Thursday, Trump tweeted that McMaster had done “an outstanding job & will always remain my friend.” He said John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, would replace him.
The move would inject a hawkish foreign policy voice into his administration ahead of key decisions on Iran and North Korea.
Trump has repeatedly clashed with McMaster, a respected three-star general, and talk that McMaster would leave the administration had picked up in recent weeks. His departure followed Trump’s dramatic ouster of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last week.
The New York Times reported that Trump wanted to fill out his national security team before his meeting with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un. Officials told the paper that McMaster’s departure was a mutual decision and amicable, with none of the recrimination that marked Tillerson’s exit.
But it comes after someone at the White House leaked that Trump was urged in briefing documents not to congratulate Russian President Vladimir Putin about his recent reelection win.
In the briefing document, drafted by McMaster, talking points for the call to Putin stated: “DO NOT CONGRATULATE.”
Trump did so anyway, and on Wednesday he defended the call, saying George W. Bush did not have the “smarts” to work with Putin, and that Barack Obama and his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, “didn’t have the energy or chemistry” with the Russian leader.
“Getting along with Russia (and others) is a good thing, not a bad thing,” Trump said, adding that Russia can “help solve problems” from North Korea to “the coming Arms Race.”
However, there was uproar of the leaking of the briefing document and the White House said in a statement that it was a firing offence. Trump and Chief of Staff John Kelly were said to be angry over the disclosure, officials said, especially because of the small circle of distribution.
Trump reportedly moved to replace McMaster on the advice of Kelly and Secretary of Defence James Mattis.
McMaster was brought in after Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was dismissed.
Meanwhile, the departure of lawyer John Dowd comes as the president has personally intensified his attacks on the special counsel and just days after the Trump legal team added a new lawyer, former U.S. attorney Joseph diGenova. He has alleged on television that FBI officials were involved in a “brazen plot” to exonerate Hillary Clinton in the email investigation and to “frame” Trump for nonexistent crimes.
Dowd confirmed his decision in an email Thursday, saying, “I love the President and wish him well.” Dowd said he made the decision voluntarily and he denied reports that his departure had to do with Trump ignoring his legal advice.
It already was a delicate time in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation as Trump’s attorneys, including Dowd, have been negotiating with Mueller over the scope and terms of an interview of the president. Trump has told reporters that he was eager to speak with Mueller, but Dowd has been far more apprehensive, and the lawyers have not publicly committed to making Trump available for questioning.
Asked Thursday whether he still wants to speak with Mueller’s team, Trump told reporters, “Yes, I would like to.”
Dowd’s exit nearly a year into Mueller’s investigation threatens to undo the cooperation between prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers and may herald a stark shift in strategy as the probe reaches closer into the White House and the president’s inner circle.
Over the weekend, Dowd issued a statement calling for an end to special counsel’s investigation. The White House and later Dowd had to clarify the statement, saying the president’s legal team wasn’t calling for Mueller to be fired.
But Trump has upped his public attacks on Mueller.
In a series of tweets since last week, the president has said that the probe never should have started, that it was based on “fraudulent activities,” that it was a “WITCH HUNT” and that it is being led by “13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters.”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said earlier this week the tweets were a reflection of Trump’s frustration with the process of the investigation. She said the White House did not think firing Mueller would be “the most productive step forward.”