John Bolton Is Trump's New National Security Adviser

HR McMaster is resigning
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 22, 2018 6:13 PM CDT
John Bolton Is Trump's New National Security Adviser
In this Feb. 24, 2017 file photo, former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Md.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

President Trump is getting his third national security adviser in the first 14 months of his presidency, Reuters reports. Current national security adviser Lt. Gen. HR McMaster is resigning, to be replaced by John Bolton on April 9. "I am very thankful for the service of General H.R. McMaster who has done an outstanding job & will always remain my friend," Trump tweeted Thursday. McMaster, who replaced Michael Flynn as national security adviser, is also resigning from the military, the New York Times reports. While McMaster and Trump butted heads both publicly and privately during his tenure at the White House, officials say McMaster's resignation is amicable and has been in the works for weeks. Officials say Trump wanted to finish a shakeup of his national security team before a planned meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong-un.

McMaster's replacement was US ambassador to the UN under the second Bush administration and is "one of the most radically hawkish voices in American foreign policy," according to a Vox explainer on Bolton. The incoming national security adviser has said the US should declare war on both North Korea and Iran. Bolton, notably, has also been a longtime contributor on Fox News. In the past, he's been accused of abusing his subordinates and manipulating US intelligence ahead of the Iraq War and has connections to anti-Muslim groups. His appointment to national security adviser was met with concern from some areas. “I operate on the assumption that John Bolton should be kept as far away from the levers of foreign policy as possible,” says the vice president for defense and foreign policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. (More HR McMaster stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X