Trump to interview four candidates to replace Flynn
MELBOURNE, Fla. — President Donald Trump will interview four candidates on Sunday to replace his dismissed national security adviser, three of them military veterans, but one of the United States’ most prominent retired generals, whose name had been floated, is not in the running.
A White House spokesman said Saturday that Trump would speak with Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, a prominent military strategist; Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen Jr., the superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point; and Keith Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general already serving as acting national security adviser.
Trump also will interview John Bolton, who served as President George W. Bush’s ambas- sador to the United Nations and has previously been considered for deputy secretary of state.
Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, a retired lieutenant general, lasted only 24 days before Trump requested his resignation for misinforming Vice President Mike Pence about the nature of a conversation with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. Bolton shares Trump’s strong antipathy toward the Iran nuclear deal. McMaster, a highly decorated Army officer, is considered one of the military’s leading intellectuals. Caslen, who was in the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, served in prominent roles in Afghanistan and Iraq. Kellogg served for 36 years in the Army, including two tours in Vietnam, where he earned the Silver Star and other medals.