Tumult continues to plague the National Security Council and President Trump’s broader natsec team. On Wednesday, deputy national security adviser for strategy Nadia Schadlow tendered her resignation, just a few months after being tapped for the position to succeed Dina Powell. Schadlow had been a…
In his final public remarks as White House national security adviser, H.R. McMaster offered a stinging rebuke of Russian violations of sovereignty and attempts to sow discord in free societies, activities for which he said the U.S. and its allies must impose higher costs.
Long before John Bolton was named Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser, the president often trusted the Fox News contributor over his own national security team. On July 17, when President Trump reversed himself at the last minute on his plan to recertify the Iran deal, it was thanks to an…
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he will be swapping out national security adviser H.R. McMaster for former U.N. ambassador John Bolton, known Russia hawk, come mid-April.
Long before John Bolton was named Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser, the president often trusted the Fox News contributor over his own national security team. On July 17, when President Trump reversed himself at the last minute on his plan to recertify the Iran deal, it was thanks to an…
President Trump is moving closer toward shaking up his administration in a big way, according to sources familiar with his thinking. The Washington Post reported Thursday night that Trump had decided to fire H.R. McMaster, his national security adviser. Shortly after the story broke, White House…
It wouldn’t be a week at the Trump White House if there weren’t talk of a staff shakeup, and that’s how this week appears to be closing. First, CNN reported Thursday the Pentagon was “considering options” for moving national security adviser H.R. McMaster into a four-star general role back at the…
Donald Trump and the White House have greeted the government shutdown, which has been in effect since the Senate was unable to pass a continuing budget resolution by early Saturday morning, as an opportunity to push this point: Democrats are extremists on immigration.
Doug Jones’s victory in Tuesday’s special Senate election in Alabama is an “embarrassment,” as one Washington Republican told me. Embarrassing because it’s Alabama, one of the most GOP-friendly states in the country. Embarrassing because the party’s candidate, Roy Moore, was perhaps one of the only…
A top Trump White House official ripped Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a “terrorist enabler” on Thursday and warned businesses against engaging with the freshly designated organization.
Ever since John Kelly was tapped as White House chief of staff, right-wing news outlets have been publishing articles making harsh allegations about Donald Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster.
Throughout the entire length of the administration’s internal debate about Afghanistan, President Donald Trump was torn between two competing impulses: his desire to end the 16-year-long war, and his need to win. When it came time to make a decision on Afghanistan, which he will announce in a…
President Trump gave a much better statement Monday on the dismaying events in Charlottesville than he did on Saturday. But while he now is willing to call out the KKK, neo-Nazis, and white supremacists as “evil,” he still won’t use the T word—“terrorism.”
As the federal investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller digs deeper into the business dealings of Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman for Donald Trump is changing his legal team.
The war on White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster continues, with allies of Steve Bannon using sympathetic media outlets to push a narrative that McMaster is thwarting the will of President Donald Trump. Senior White House aides now wonder among each other whether Bannon himself and/or…
One story going around among conservatives online Thursday was the production of a letter from Trump national security adviser H.R. McMaster to one of his predecessors in the job, Susan Rice. The April letter alerts Rice, who worked in the Obama administration, that her security clearance has been…
General John Kelly may be trying to institute military-style discipline in the West Wing, but that hasn’t put a stop to the civil war happening over President Donald Trump’s National Security Council. If anything, the dawning of the Kelly era may have accelerated that war.
General John Kelly may be trying to institute military-style discipline in the West Wing, but that hasn’t put a stop to the civil war happening over President Donald Trump’s National Security Council. If anything, the dawning of the Kelly era may have accelerated that war.
President Trump has authorized his secretary of defense, James Mattis, to determine American troop levels in Afghanistan. Mattis confirmed this Wednesday morning in a hearing before the Senate Appropriations committee. "At noon yesterday, President Trump delegated to me the authority to manage…
Tom Ricks is disappointed in General H. R. McMaster. On May 15, during Donald Trump's hebdomas horribilis, McMaster, the president's national security adviser, appeared briefly outside the White House to attack a story in the Washington Post. The Post piece alleged that the president had revealed…
Tom Ricks is disappointed in General H. R. McMaster. On May 15, during Donald Trump's hebdomas horribilis, McMaster, the president's national security adviser, appeared briefly outside the White House to attack a story in the Washington Post. The Post piece alleged that the president had revealed…
Watching the White House these days is like driving down an interstate, but every two miles you have to slow to a crawl as you pass yet another car crash. More than likely, the cause of the wreck is a reckless driver, but, of course, there are the innocent occupants in the other car. Trump's…
The White House national security adviser on Tuesday did not deny several reports that President Donald Trump disclosed to high-ranking Russian officials previously classified intelligence from a foreign intelligence service. Speaking to reporters at the White House, H.R. McMaster said repeatedly…
President Trump will be making a decision soon—though likely not this week, I'm told—about whether to send at least 3,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan. That's the main element of a proposal presented to Trump by the National Security Council's principals committee (the whole of the president's…
What's going on at the National Security Council? Eli Lake at Bloomberg View reports that President Trump himself has "clashed" with National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster "in front of his staff." And it's not just the president, Lake writes:
What's the holdup? Deputy national security advisor K.T. McFarland is waiting to leave the White House to prepare for her new assignment as the U.S. ambassador to Singapore. An administration official confirmed back on April 9 that McFarland, a veteran of the Reagan administration who was a Fox…
In the aftermath of the chemical weapons attacks in Idlib province and the subsequent response of cruise missile strikes on a Syrian airbase authorized by President Trump, both National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have asserted that the Syrian government has…
Another day with the same big and frustrating story for the Trump administration: The effort to repeal and replace Obamacare is not going well. The House bill continues to lose supporters publicly, and not just from the far-right Freedom Caucus.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has promised to recuse himself from any Justice Department investigations into the Trump presidential campaign. His blanket recusal likely will not satisfy his most ardent opponents, who wanted to see the Alabama Republican resign after it was revealed Sessions had…
It has been a tumultuous start for President Donald Trump's National Security Council, to put it gently. General Michael Flynn was forced to resign as national security adviser less than a month into the new administration, amid controversy over his contacts with a Russian ambassador. It is clear…
It has been a tumultuous start for President Donald Trump's National Security Council, to put it gently. General Michael Flynn was forced to resign as national security adviser less than a month into the new administration, amid controversy over his contacts with a Russian ambassador. It is clear…
It has been a tumultuous start for President Donald Trump’s National Security Council, to put it gently. General Michael Flynn was forced to resign as national security adviser less than a month into the new administration, amid controversy over his contacts with a Russian ambassador. It is clear…
The selection of Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster to be President Trump's new National Security Advisor has received near universal praise. But understanding why McMaster is highly regarded is another matter altogether. Here's list of illuminating articles on McMaster that helps explain why he's one of the…
The WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with reporter Jenna Lifhits on Trump's National Security Advisor pick, H.R. McMaster.
By naming Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as his new national security adviser, President Donald Trump has taken a critical first step toward restoring confidence in the White House's ability to meet the challenges of a trying time. Simultaneously the choice raises profound questions about the…
Days before the election, President Donald Trump's newly appointed national security adviser, lieutenant general H. R. McMaster, laid out his vision of the threats facing America and the country's deficiencies in facing them, as well as the value of education to remedy those deficiencies.
In November 2016, incoming National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster addressed the Virginia Military Institute. The video is worth watching. Here it is:
A week after Donald Trump asked Mike Flynn to resign from his post as national security advisor, the president has announced another Army general, H.R. McMaster, as Flynn’s replacement. If there are any worthwhile objections to McMaster's appointment among the broad national security, military, and…
President Donald Trump has named U.S. Army lieutenant general H.R. McMaster to be his new national security advisor. The Monday afternoon announcement comes nearly one week after Mike Flynn was asked to resign from the job following revelations he had misled the White House on his conversations…