Report: White House Aides Betting on Who'll Be Axed Next

The smart money might be on HR McMaster
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 16, 2018 5:48 AM CDT
Report: Trump Is Ready for Yet More Firings
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, second from left, National Security Adviser HR McMaster, second from right, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, right, attend a White House news conference last week.   (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The rate of firings in the White House will soon exceed anything seen on Celebrity Apprentice, reports the Washington Post, citing "five people with knowledge" of President Trump's plans. The sources say that as part of a shake-up, Trump has decided to get rid of National Security Adviser HR McMaster, but he isn't going to rush the move because he wants to find a suitable successor and he has no wish to humiliate the three-star general, even though they have never seen eye to eye. Reports predicting McMaster's imminent departure have surfaced repeatedly in recent weeks, citing "months of personal tension" and disagreements on Russian election interference.

Beyond McMaster, those whose jobs are rumored to be at risk include chief of staff John Kelly, HUD secretary Ben Carson, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Hill reports. The Post's sources say White House aides, unsettled by the way Trump's personal assistant was unceremoniously ejected from the White House Tuesday, have started betting on who will be next. "Everybody fears the perp walk," one senior official says. "If it could happen to Johnny, the president’s body guy, it could happen to anybody." Trump—who enjoys watching worried aides compete for his approval, the sources say—denied Thursday that he is planning a major staff overhaul, though he admitted that "there will always be change." (More HR McMaster stories.)

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