International News

NEW YORK, Aug 6 (APP): US President Donald Trump has come to the
defence of his national security advisor, H.R. McMaster, in the face of
a sustained attack on the army general from the far right wing of the Republican Party.
In a statement emailed to The New York Times, the president
described McMaster as a “good man”, and said they were “working very
well together.” But analysts said it was unlikely to stem the flow of invective from the president’s own hardline supporters or resolve the factional conflict inside the White House.
Many of the attacks have come through the ultra-conservative
Breitbart News website, which was run until last August by the White
House Chief Strategist, Stephen Bannon. Breitbart stories described
McMaster as “increasingly volatile” and said he “frequent blows his
top”. Another headline said he was “deeply hostile to Israel and to
Trump”.
“He is a good man and very pro-Israel. I am grateful for the work
he continues to do serving our country,” Trump said of McMaster.
The president’s statement followed the Times report that critics on
the right were angered by McMaster’s move to push out several conservative staff members on the national security team who had been brought on by Michael Flynn, McMaster’s predecessor, who resigned in February. Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the 31-year old senior director for intelligence programmes at the National Security Council (NSC), was ousted on Thursday.
“He has determined that, at this time, a different set of experiences
is best-suited to carrying that work forward,” a statement released by the White House said of Cohen-Watnick’s release. “General McMaster is confident that Ezra will make many further significant contributions to national security in another position in the administration.”
Last week, McMaster also removed Middle East director Derek Harvey
from his position at the NSC due to a “difference in vision,” according to
a a media report. Harvey was also hired by Flynn, whose tenure as national security adviser was short-lived.
McMaster has also drawn conservatives’ ire by advising against pulling out of the nuclear agreement with Iran without a clear strategy in place
for what comes next.
The attacks directed at McMaster came from conservative news sites and grew on social media. The hashtag #FireMcMaster has been tweeted more than 50,000 times since Wednesday, the Times reported, including by accounts linked to Russian cyber operations.
The Times also reported that advisers have floated the idea of Trump reassigning McMaster to take over as commander of US forces in
Afghanistan and installing current CIA director Mike Pompeo as national security adviser.
Such a move would be yet another top-level staff change in Trump’s
seven months in office — and would come shortly after the recent resignations and terminations in the White House communications department and the appointment of retired general John Kelly as White House chief of staff.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Hugh Hewitt on Saturday, McMaster
applauded the addition of Kelly, saying the former four-start Marine
general improves the ability of the West Wing staff “to operate together
as a team.”
“What we’ve been able to do is to evolve authorities back to where
they belong. And instead of thinking about tactics, the next little move, we’ve been trying to view problem sets and opportunities through the lens
of our vital national interests, establish goals. Imagine that. Establish goals for our foreign policy and national security strategies,” McMaster said.