Politics

Trump Considers Another General To Replace Mike Flynn

(MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

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Saagar Enjeti White House Correspondent
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President Donald Trump interviewed three generals and a former diplomat to replace former national security advisor Mike Flynn, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Trump added Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen to the list of candidates, the current superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Caslen is a graduate of West Point, and served tours in Desert Storm, in Afghanistan, and multiple tours in Iraq.

Caslen joined Lt. Gen Keith Kellogg, Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, and former Amb. John Bolton in Flordia while interviewing for the position. The positions remains tentatively filled by Kellogg while a broader search takes place, after Retired Adm. Robert Harward rejected Trump’s offer for the position.

Harward did not want former Fox News contributor K.T. McFarland to remain as his deputy, a request the White House denied. Harward was also concerned about political involvement in the National Security Council NSC, specifically from White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon and senior adviser to the president Stephen Miller.

White House Chief of Staff Reince Preibus indicated these reports were false Sunday and said whoever gets the nod “can do whatever he or she wants to do with the staffing.”

Bolton was originally considered by Trump for U.S. secretary of state during the transition. He served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under former President George W Bush, and remained a vocal critic of the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran. McMaster has had a storied career in the U.S. Army, serving in the wars on terror. He currently serves as the head of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.

The Trump administration indicated Sunday it may expand the search Monday to even more candidates.

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