Trump aide ousted over security issue but rejoins campaign
WASHINGTON — John McEntee, who has served as President Donald Trump’s personal assistant since Trump won the presidency, was forced out of his position and escorted from the White House on Monday after his security clearance was revoked, officials with knowledge of the incident said.
But McEntee will remain in the president’s orbit despite his abrupt departure from the White House. Trump’s re-election campaign announced Tuesday that McEntee has been named senior adviser for campaign operations, putting him in a position to remain as a close aide during the next several years.
The campaign’s decision underscores Trump’s tolerance for — and often encouragement of — dueling centers of power around him. And it highlights the extent to which the re-election campaign has already become a landing pad for former Trump associates who have left the White House but remain loyal to the president.
The decision to remove McEntee came to light on the same day that Trump announced he was removing Rex Tillerson as secretary of state.
Officials declined to say what issues prompted the security concerns about McEntee.
White House chief of staffJohn Kelly has said in recent weeks that too many staff members were operating on interim security clearances because they could not pass FBI background checks.
But a senior administration official said that many of the president’s top aides were shocked and dismayed by the abrupt departure, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The official, who requested anonymity to discuss personnel issues, said McEntee had been expected to travel with Trump — as he always does — when the president departed for a trip to California on Tuesday.
For Trump, the absence of McEntee strips away another of the handful of close associates who have constantly been by his side as he made the transition from real estate mogul to politician. Keith Schiller, the president’s longtime director of security, left the White House in September. Hope Hicks, the director of communications and one of Trump’s closest aides, has announced she is leaving in the coming days, as well.
That left McEntee, who worked on the president’s campaign and was brought into the White House to be Trump’s “body guy,” the aide who travels with the president wherever he goes. During presidential trips, McEntee and the White House doctor were two aides who were never left off the travel manifest. Aides said McEntee often tried to keep hangers-on away from Trump when he traveled to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Now, with McEntee gone, the president will have none of his closest aides by his side at all times. Kellyanne Conway, who remains close to Trump, does not frequently travel with the president.