Security job offer: Thanks, but no thanks

Donald Trump’s choice for national security adviser, retired Vice- Admiral Robert Harward, has turned down the offer, a senior White House official said yesterday. Harward was offered the job after Michael Flynn was fired by Trump on Tuesday for misleading Vice- President Mike Pence over his conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the US. The White House official said Harward cited family and financial reasons for opting not to take the job. Harward is a senior executive at Lockheed Martin. Two sources familiar with the decision said Harward turned down the job in part because he wanted to bring in his own team, putting him at odds with Trump.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus expressed bafflement and dismay after President Donald Trump asked a black reporter to set up a meeting with them. Jim Clyburn said there is “an element of disrespect” in Trump’s comment to journalist April Ryan, asking her whether she was friends with CBC members and could convene a gettogether. “He’s not going to ask any other reporter to do that for any other group, so why did he do that to her?”

Donald Trump said yesterday he will issue a new Executive Order to replace his controversial directive suspending travel to the US by citizens of seven mostly Muslim countries. Trump said the new order would seek to address concerns raised by federal appeals court judges, who temporarily blocked his original travel ban. “The new order is going to be very much tailored to what I consider to be a very bad decision,” Trump said. The original order, issued on January 27, triggered chaos at some US and overseas airports and led to protests around the world and drew more than a dozen legal challenges.