H.R. McMaster says 2 groups of White House staffers are a 'danger to the Constitution'

(Image credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

last updated 9 May 2019

Former National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster on Wednesday criticized two groups of White House staffers: those who "try to manipulate the situation based on their own agenda" and others who purport to save America from President Trump

McMaster is now a scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington, D.C., think tank, and he shared his thoughts during an event held at the organization. The retired Army lieutenant general served as Trump's second national security adviser, from February 2017 to April 2018, and he said that along with some other White House staffers, he provided bias-free policy options for Trump.

Without naming anyone specifically, he called out two other groups of people: Those who "are not there to give the president options — they're there to try to manipulate the situation based on their own agenda" — and those who "cast themselves in the role of saving the country, even the world, from the president." These advisers, whether they are working to exploit Trump or overrule the elected president, "are actually a danger to the Constitution of the United States," he said. McMaster was asked about his successor, John Bolton, but declined to offer his opinion, Politico reports.

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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.

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