Trump has reportedly decided to fire H.R. McMaster

H.R. McMaster looks at Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

President Trump has decided to remove H.R. McMaster from his position as national security adviser, but won't fire him immediately to avoid embarrassing the three-star Army general, five people with knowledge of the matter told The Washington Post.

Trump also wants to have a replacement waiting in the wings, with possibilities including John Bolton, an extremely conservative former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Keith Kellogg, the National Security Council chief of staff, who Trump reportedly describes as "fun." Trump never meshed with McMaster, several White House officials told the Post, and would complain about him being too rigid and his briefings being too long.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.