‘Deep state’ memo targets McMaster
W. House ‘Bannon’ites vs. old guard
A bizarre memo that circulated around the White House reportedly targeted National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and claimed President Trump was under attack by “‘deep state’ actors, globalists, bankers, Islamists and establishment Republicans.”
The conspiracy-laden memo was written by a since-fired staffer on the National Security Council who is loyal to chief political strategist Steve Bannon, according to Foreign Policy magazine.
Rich Higgins, who worked in the NSC’s strategic-planning office, penned the screed as part of a broader struggle between McMaster and the president’s far-right nationalist flank who support Bannon.
“It was about H.R. McMaster,” a source said. “So, when he starts reading it, he knows it’s him and he fires [Higgins].”
McMaster also fired others linked to the memo, including NSC’s top intelligence official, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, and Derek Harvey, who handled the NSC’s Middle East portfolio.
But as those on the far-right waged an intense media campaign to fire McMaster, Trump publicly backed his NSA chief Thursday.
“General McMaster? He’s our friend. He’s my friend, and he’s a very talented man. I like him and I respect him,” Trump said at his Bedminster, NJ, country club.
The warring factions include:
TEAM BANNON Bannon loyalists include former Breitbart reporter Julia Hahn, a White House special assistant who has been described as his protégée and “right-hand woman.”
Another former Breitbart staffer who wound up in the White House is national security editor-turned-presidential deputy assistant Sebastian Gorka.
He reportedly kept his job only when Trump and Bannon “personally intervened” in May, after Gorka was denied National Security Council clearance over a gun bust at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
TEAM McMASTER Foremost among McMaster’s supporters is retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, whom Trump recently moved from homeland security secretary to White House chief of staff.
“Kelly has tried to make it clear that he supports McMaster,” said one source familiar with Trump’s thinking.
Multiple sources said Dina Powell, deputy national security adviser for strategy, also sided with McMaster.
Presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner — whose wife, Ivanka Trump, is an official assistant to her dad — likes McMaster, one source said.
ON THE FENCE Senior policy adviser Stephen Miller has previously been linked to Bannon, with whom he co-wrote Trump’s inaugural address.
But Miller — who had been widely reported to be in line to replace Anthony Scaramucci as White House communications director — has more recently been described as a free agent.