McMaster
out,
Bolton
in as
Trump’s
national
security
adviser
By
JILL
COLVIN,
CATHERINE
LUCEY
and
KEN
THOMAS
WASHINGTON
-
President
Donald
Trump is
replacing
national
security
adviser
H.R.
McMaster
with the
former
U.N.
Ambassador
John
Bolton,
injecting
a
hawkish
foreign
policy
voice
into his
administration
ahead of
key
decisions
on Iran
and
North
Korea.
Trump
tweeted
Thursday
that
McMaster
has done
“an
outstanding
job &
will
always
remain
my
friend.”
He said
Bolton
will
take
over
April 9.
Bolton
will be
Trump’s
third
national
security
adviser.
Trump
has
clashed
with
McMaster,
a
respected
three-star
general,
and talk
that
McMaster
would
soon
leave
the
administration
had
picked
up in
recent
weeks.
His
departure
follows
Trump’s
dramatic
ouster
of
Secretary
of State
Rex
Tillerson
last
week. It
also
comes
after
someone
at the
White
House
leaked
that
Trump
was
urged in
briefing
documents
not to
congratulate
Russian
President
Vladimir
Putin
about
his
recent
re-election
win.
Trump
did it
anyway.
In a
statement
released
by the
White
House,
McMaster
said he
would be
requesting
retirement
from the
U.S.
Army
effective
this
summer,
adding
that
afterward
he “will
leave
public
service.”
McMaster
was
brought
in after
Trump’s
first
national
security
adviser,
Michael
Flynn,
was
dismissed
because
he did
not tell
White
House
officials,
including
Vice
President
Mike
Pence,
about
the full
extent
of his
contacts
with
Russian
officials.
The
White
House
said
McMaster’s
exit had
been
under
discussion
for some
time and
stressed
it was
not due
to any
one
incident.
Bolton,
probably
the most
divisive
foreign
policy
expert
ever to
serve as
U.N.
ambassador,
has
served
as a
hawkish
voice in
Republican
foreign
policy
circles
for
decades.
He met
with
Trump
and
White
House
chief of
staff
John
Kelly in
early
March to
discuss
North
Korea
and
Iran. He
was
spotted
entering
the West
Wing
earlier
Thursday.