The White House said Tuesday that new national security adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster will have “100 percent” authority to shape the National Security Council any way he wants, as he started his first day on the job with a closed-door briefing for President Trump in the ultra-secure Situation Room.
“The president has been very clear with that,” said White House press secretary Sean Spicer. “He is a national security adviser, and he will have whatever he needs to implement a successful team.”
Asked if Mr. McMaster would have the authority to rebuild the NSC principals committee and potentially remove chief presidential strategist Stephen Bannon, Mr. Spicer said the president would “take that under serious consideration.”
“The president has made clear to him he’s got full authority to structure the national security team the way he wants,” Mr. Spicer said.
Mr. McMaster, tapped by Mr. Trump for the job Monday afternoon to replace Michael Flynn after his resignation, took part in the National Security Council briefing that the White House described as “routine.”
Among the people who recommended Mr. McMaster to the president were Defense Secretary James N. Mattis and Sen. Tom Cotton, Arkansas Republican. Mr. Spicer said senators of both parties “really praised General McMaster’s command of the issues, his management, his style, his understanding of the geopolitical landscape.”
The president’s spokesman also pushed back against news stories that said retired Adm. Robert Harward turned down the job out of concerns that the White House was dysfunctional or he would have lacked the authority to hire his own team. He said Mr. Harward turned down the post only because of family and financial considerations.
“Admiral Harward made it very, very clear that he wanted this job,” Mr. Spicer said. “He would love to take it. But during the course of discussions, he came up and he said, before I continue with this discussion, I need to address some financial and family concerns.
All of the rumors about the discretion that he would have over staff or any other thing were 100 percent false.”
The president fired Mr. Flynn last week after Vice President Mike Pence expressed “disappointment” that Mr. Flynn had misled him about the extent of conversations that he had with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. prior to the inauguration.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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