Tag: H.R. McMaster

Trump ‘is aiding and abetting Putin’s efforts’: HR McMaster

AlterNet logo

During an appearance on MSNBC this Thursday, former National Security advisor to President Trump, H.R. McMaster, was asked if President Trump is posing a greater threat to the 2020 election than Vladimir Putin.

McMaster said that he agrees Trump is “aiding an abetting Putin’s efforts” by not directly “calling out Putin for what he’s doing.”

The retired lieutenant general also addressed what many say is President Trump’s refusal to directly condemn white supremacist groups, saying he “missed a huge opportunity” and that it should be “super easy to condemn white supremacists.” Continue reading.

McMaster wasn’t aware of White House’s foreign call “lockdowns”

Axios logoThree former administration officials tell Axios that former national security adviser H.R. McMaster did not authorize and was not aware of the “locking down” of transcripts of conversations between President Trump and foreign leaders that were politically damaging but didn’t pose national security risks.

Why it matters: Congressional investigators want to learn how, when and at whose direction transcripts were moved out of the typical computer system and into a classified system meant for highly sensitive security matters.

    • That process was described in the whistleblower’s complaint about the July 25 call between President Trump and Ukraine’s President Zelensky.

View the complete October 13 article by Margaret Talev on the Axios website here.

Outgoing Trump administration officials keep sending distress signals

The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website April 5, 2018:

H.R. McMaster departed as President Trump’s national security adviser on Tuesday — but not before he told us how he really felt.

“We have failed to impose sufficient costs [on Russia],” he said, implicitly faulting his own colleagues and President Trump. “For too long, some nations have looked the other way,” McMaster added, again seemingly targeting his own White House and, apparently, Trump’s overriding desire to make nice with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Continue reading “Outgoing Trump administration officials keep sending distress signals”

H. R. McMaster delivers a parting shot to Russia as he prepares to bow out as national security adviser

The following article by Ellen Nakashima and John Hudson was posted on the Washington Post website April 4, 2018:

National security adviser McMaster Credit: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post

Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, in his last public remarks as President Trump’s national security adviser, strongly denounced Russia for its increased aggression around the world and declared: “We have failed to impose sufficient costs.”

His comments come a little more than a week after he was ousted by Trump, who is replacing him with conservative firebrand and former U.N. ambassador John Bolton.

They came hours after Trump, in a White House news conference with Baltic state leaders, stated, “Nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have.” Continue reading “H. R. McMaster delivers a parting shot to Russia as he prepares to bow out as national security adviser”

McMaster’s Challenge: His Boss Is Already Making America Less Safe

The following article by Vikram Singh and Peter Juul was posted on the Center for American Progress website February 22, 2017:

Photo: AP/Walsh

At a time when the Trump administration continues to spark an immediate and growing national security crises due to mismanagement and reckless policies, the national security community felt great relief at the president’s selection of Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as the next national security advisor. McMaster will be tasked with resolving a number of serious foreign policy blunders already committed by the new administration. President Trump must ensure that McMaster has the authority and tools to deal with the following seven problems.

  1. Chaotic and dysfunctional management. Even before former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s forced resignation, President Trump’s National Security Council proved disturbingly dysfunctional. For example, U.S. military officials told Reuters that the president “approved his first covert counterterrorism operation without sufficient intelligence, ground support or adequate backup preparations.” The operation in Yemen was launched with no normal process and resulted in the death of a Navy SEAL as well as dozens of civilians; it also reportedly ended American access to conduct ground operations in Yemen. Political infighting has left U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with virtually no staff. Worse still, the country lacks a systematic national security decisionmaking process to effectively deal with the inevitable next crisis.

Continue reading “McMaster’s Challenge: His Boss Is Already Making America Less Safe”