Trump loses pick for top security advisor

Retired Navy Admiral Harward turns down offer from US President

Donald Trump’s reported pick for national security advisor turned down the job just hours after the president defended the ousted Michael Flynn, saying he “wasn’t wrong” for dealing with Russia.

Retired Navy Admiral Robert Harward’s rejection of the key post late Thursday leaves Trump without a replacement for Flynn, the first high profile casualty of the US leader’s tenure, and it added to a perception of disarray in his administration.

Harward told CNN he bowed out because of family and financial commitments, but several US media outlets reported that he was unhappy because he had no guarantees that the National Security Council – and not Trump’s political advisors – would be in charge of policy.

Members of the council currently include Steve Bannon, Trump’s controversial far-right former campaign manager.

One Harward friend told CNN that he didn’t want the job because of chaos at the White House.

Flynn, a close advisor on Trump’s 2016 campaign, re- signed after it was revealed that he held telephone conversations during the election race with Russia’s ambassador in Washington about US sanctions.

Flynn was no stranger to controversy. His past included a paid appearance at a 2015 dinner sitting next to President Vladimir Putin and suggestions that Russia’s seizure of Crimea and its support for Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad were acceptable.

Russia was the hot topic of a lengthy and often rambling press conference given by Trump on Thursday.

The president insisted neither he nor his campaign team had contacts with Russian officials in the run-up to last year’s US election, contradicting an explosive report which he dismissed as “fake news.”

Trump instead accused members of US intelligence agencies of breaking the law by leaking information about the calls.

Asked whether he or anyone on his staff had engaged in contacts with Russia prior to the election, Trump proclaimed, “No, nobody that I know of.”

“I have nothing to do with Russia,” Trump said. “The whole Russia thing is a ruse.”

It was a full-throated denunciation of a bombshell New York Times report which said intercepted calls and phone records show Trump aides were in repeated contact with Russian intelligence officials well before the US election.

“It’s all fake news,” Trump insisted.