WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is replacing national security adviser H.R. McMaster with John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Trump tweets that McMaster has done “an outstanding job & will always remain my friend.” He says Bolton will take over April 9.

Trump has repeatedly 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.

McMaster was brought in after Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was dismissed. </s> 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."

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.

Bolton has served in the Republican administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, and served as a Bush lawyer during the 2000 Florida recount.

A strong supporter of the Iraq war and an advocate for aggressive use of American power in foreign policy, Bolton was unable to win Senate confirmation after his nomination to the U.N. post alienated many Democrats and even some Republicans. He resigned after serving 17 months as a Bush "recess appointment," which allowed him to hold the job on a temporary basis without Senate confirmation.

Tension between Trump and McMaster has grown increasingly public. Last month, Trump took issue with McMaster's characterization of Russian meddling in the 2016 election after the national security adviser told the Munich Security Summit that interference was beyond dispute.

"General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems," Trump tweeted Feb. 17, alluding to frequent GOP allegations of impropriety by Democrats and Hillary Clinton.

Tillerson's exit also forecast trouble for McMaster, who had aligned himself with the embattled secretary of state in seeking to soften some of Trump's most dramatic foreign policy impulses.

McMaster told The New York Times last year that Trump's unorthodox approach "has moved a lot of us out of our comfort zone, me included."

The military strategist, who joined the administration in February 2017, has struggled to navigate a tumultuous White House. Last summer, he was the target of a far-right attack campaign, as conservative groups and a website tied to former Trump adviser Steve Bannon targeted him as insufficiently supportive of Israel and not tough enough on Iran.

McMaster was brought in after Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was dismissed after less than a month in office. White House officials said he was ousted because he did not tell top advisers, including Vice President Mike Pence, about the full extent of his contacts with Russian officials.

Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report. </s> Washington: US President Donald Trump has named former ambassador and Fox News analyst John Bolton as his new National Security Adviser replacing Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, media reports said.

The President announced the news in a tweet on Thursday, saying that Bolton would take the job starting April 9, making him Trump’s third National Security Adviser in the first 14 months of his presidency, reports The Washington Post. “I (am) pleased to announce that, effective 4/9/18, @AmbJohnBolton will be my new National Security Advisor. I am very thankful for the service of General H.R. McMaster who has done an outstanding job and will always remain my friend. There will be an official contact handover on 4/19,” he tweeted.

Bolton’s appointment does not require Senate confirmation. Following Trum’s tweet, McMaster said in a statement released by the White House: “After 34 years of service to our nation, I am requesting retirement from the US Army effective this summer after which I will leave public service… I am thankful to President Donald Trump for the opportunity to serve him and our nation as National Security Adviser.”

Trump and Bolton have been discussing for weeks how he could replace McMaster, CNN quoted an informed source as saying. Shortly after the news broke, Bolton said on Fox News that he was not expecting an announcement to be made Thursday afternoon. According to the source, Trump and Bolton had met earlier on Thursday.

Bolton’s hard edged, hawkish views on issues like North Korea, Iraq and Syria make him a controversial pick especially ahead of a proposed meeting between Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. Bolton is a fierce North Korea hawk who, in his prolific writings and television commentary, has said that pre-emptive war would likely be the only way to stop North Korea from obtaining the capability to attack the US with a nuclear missile, reports The Washington Post.

Bolton had touted “the legal case for striking North Korea first” in an editorial in the Wall Street Journal. However, Bolton, who had dismissed negotiations with North Korea as a waste of time, moderated his views slightly after Trump announced he would sit down with Kim, suggesting that the encounter between the two leaders would be short and largely devoid of traditional diplomacy.

Regarding Iran, Bolton told Fox News in January that Trump should dump the nuclear deal, re-impose economic sanctions on Tehran and work toward an overthrow of the government there. Bolton had previously served in the George W. Bush administration in a key arms-control job. </s> FILE - In this Feb. 24, 2017, file photo, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Oxon Hill, Md. President Donald is replacing National security adviser H.R. McMaster with Bolton. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Charging ahead with the dramatic remaking of his White House, President Donald Trump said he would replace national security adviser H.R. McMaster with the former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, a foreign policy hawk entering an administration facing key decisions on Iran and North Korea.

After weeks of speculation about McMaster’s future, Trump and the respected three-star general put a positive face on the Thursday departure, making no reference to the growing public friction between them. Trump tweeted that McMaster had done “an outstanding job & will always remain my friend.” He said Bolton will take over April 9 as his third national security adviser in just over a year.

The national security shakeup comes as the president is increasingly shedding advisers who once eased the Republican establishment’s concerns about the foreign policy and political novice in the White House. McMaster is the sixth close adviser or aide to announce a departure in a turbulent six weeks, joining ally Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was unceremoniously fired last week.

The White House has said the president is seeking to put new foreign policy leaders in place ahead of a not-yet-scheduled meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jung Un. Bolton is likely to add a hard-line influence on those talks, as well as deliberations over whether to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal.

The White House said McMaster’s exit had been under discussion for some time and stressed it was not due to any one incident, including this week’s stunning leak about Trump’s recent phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Related: Trump gets angry about election meddling, but not at Russia

McMaster had briefed Trump before the Putin call — and his team drafted all-caps instructions telling Trump not to congratulate the Russian leader on his re-election victory. Trump did it anyway.

An internal investigation into the leak is underway, said a White House official who — like others interviewed about the announcement and the White House shakeup — demanded anonymity to discuss internal matters.

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 had told confidants he would leave the post if at any point he lost credibility on the international stage, according to three White House officials. The feverish speculation about an impending exit sped up the decision for him to depart, the officials said, in part because McMaster believed foreign partners were beginning to doubt his influence.

Chief of staff John Kelly and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis had been pushing Trump to get rid of McMaster and had been escalating their campaign in recent weeks. It had appeared McMaster’s departure was imminent last week — but White House officials insisted the speculation was false.

“Just spoke to @POTUS and Gen. H.R. McMaster — contrary to reports they have a good working relationship and there are no changes at the NSC,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted late last Thursday night.

McMaster never developed a personal rapport with Trump, who chafed at his long-winded briefing style, according to a White House official and a person close to the president. His influence in high-level decision-making had waned in recent months, as Trump has increasingly relied on the direct counsel of Kelly and Mattis.

Yet officials said the president still has genuine respect for McMaster. He had been under consideration for a fourth star, and White House officials hoped it would provide a graceful exit from the West Wing for the longtime soldier. No suitable postings had been identified, leaving McMaster — long an iconoclast among the top brass — with no choice but retirement.

Bolton, probably the most divisive foreign policy expert ever to serve as U.N. ambassador, has been a force in Republican foreign policy circles for decades. He served in the Republican administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, and as a Bush lawyer during the 2000 Florida recount.

A strong supporter of the Iraq war and an advocate for aggressive use of American power, Bolton was unable to win Senate confirmation after his nomination to the U.N. post alienated many Democrats and even some Republicans. He resigned after serving 17 months as a Bush “recess appointment,” which allowed him to hold the job on a temporary basis without Senate confirmation.

The role of national security adviser does not require Senate confirmation.

Bolton met with Trump and Kelly in early March to discuss North Korea and Iran. He was spotted entering the West Wing earlier Thursday.

Tension between Trump and McMaster had grown increasingly public. Last month, Trump took issue with McMaster’s characterization of Russian meddling in the 2016 election after the national security adviser told the Munich Security Summit that interference was beyond dispute.

“General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems,” Trump tweeted Feb. 17, alluding to frequent GOP allegations of impropriety by Democrats and Hillary Clinton.

Tillerson’s exit also forecast trouble for McMaster, who had aligned himself with the embattled secretary of state in seeking to soften some of Trump’s most dramatic foreign policy impulses.

McMaster told The New York Times last year that Trump’s unorthodox approach “has moved a lot of us out of our comfort zone, me included.”

The military strategist, who joined the administration in February 2017, has struggled to navigate a tumultuous White House. Last summer, he was the target of a far-right attack campaign, as conservative groups and a website tied to former Trump adviser Steve Bannon targeted him as insufficiently supportive of Israel and not tough enough on Iran.

McMaster was brought in after Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was dismissed after less than a month in office. White House officials said he was ousted because he did not tell top advisers, including Vice-President Mike Pence, about the full extent of his contacts with Russian officials.

Related: Possible good news for Canada on tariffs: White House hints ‘carve-out’ coming

Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed to this report.

Catherine Lucey, Zeke Miller And Ken Thomas, The Associated Press

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. </s> President Trump announced Thursday that Ambassador John Bolton will replace Gen. H.R. McMaster as his National Security Adviser effective April 9.

“I am pleased to announce that, effective 4/9/18, @AmbJohnBolton will be my new National Security Advisor. I am very thankful for the service of General H.R. McMaster who has done an outstanding job & will always remain my friend. There will be an official contact handover on 4/9,” Trump tweeted.

The president’s announcement comes after months of speculation over whether McMaster would resign, or be fired from his post.

But on Thursday evening, a White House official said that the president and McMaster “mutually agreed” that he would resign from his post. The two have been discussing this for some time, the official said, noting that the timeline was expedited as they both felt it was important to have a new team in place, instead of constant speculation.

A White House official said the decision was not related to any one moment or incident, but rather the result of ongoing conversations between the two.

“After thirty-four years of service to our nation, I am requesting retirement from the U.S. Army effective this summer after which I will leave public service. Throughout my career it has been my greatest privilege top serve alongside extraordinary servicemembers and dedicated civilians,” McMaster said in a statement.

He added: “I am thankful to President Donald J. Trump for the opportunity to serve him and our nation as national security adviser. I am grateful for the friendship and support of the members of the National Security Council who worked together to provide the President with the best options to protect and advance our national interests.”

McMaster said he was “especially proud” to have served with National Security Council staff, who he said “established a strong foundation for protecting the American people, promoting American prosperity, achieving peace through strength, and advancing American influence.

“I know that these patriots will continue to serve our President and our nation with distinction,” McMaster said.

White House chief of staff John Kelly said McMaster is “a fine American and Military officer.”

“He has served with distinction and honor throughout his career in the U.S> Army and as the National Security Advisor,” Kelly said Thursday. “He brought and maintained discipline and energy to our vital interagency processes. He helped develop options for the president and ensured that those options were presented fully and fairly. A true solider-scholar, his impact on his country and this government will be felt for years to come.”

Bolton, who served as U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006 and as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security from 2001 to 2005, will take over for McMaster next month.

A White House official said Bolton is one of the strongest voices and experts on the full range of national security issues and challenges facing the U.S.

McMaster’s retirement comes just one week after the president fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Twitter, and after other high profile administration departures. Earlier this month, Chief Economic Adviser Gary Cohn resigned. </s> US President Donald Trump named Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as his new national security advisor on Monday (20 February). He replaces Michael Flynn who resigned last week over a potentially illegal phone call he made to the Russian ambassador before taking office.

Two other candidates interviewed for the position on Sunday were former Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, and Superintendent of the US Military Academy at West Point, Lt. Gen. Robert L. Calsen Jr.

Trump named McMaster at the Mar-a-Lago resort that has been the subject of some security concerns itself, after Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe were photographed by members discussing international security issues in a crowded restaurant.

McMaster is described by the New York Times as "one of the army's leading intellectuals", known for his criticism of senior military staff during the Vietnam war and the handling of the invasion of Iraq. Trump described McMaster as "a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience".

Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who had been serving as acting national security advisor after Flynn's departure, will return to his role as chief of staff of the National Security Council (NSC). In late January, Trump reshuffled the council to give a permanent seat to his chief strategist, former Breitbart executive Steve Bannon.

The previous national security advisor, Michael Flynn, came under fire when it was reported that he conducted a phone call with the Russian ambassador in which he discussed lifting US sanctions on the country. The conversation took place before Flynn had taken office, and under US law private citizens cannot engage in foreign policy.

The scandal also indicated rifts in the administration, with Vice President Mike Pence having publicly defended Flynn against the accusations while the Justice Department had already warned the White House that there were security concerns over Flynn. </s> This is a rush transcript from "The Five," March 22, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

CHRIS WALLACE, ANCHOR: We have breaking news. President Trump has just tweeted "I am pleased to announce that effective 4/9/18," April 9th, "Ambassador John Bolton will be my new national security adviser. I am very thankful for the service of General H.R. McMaster, who has done an outstanding job, and will always remain my friend. There will be an official contact handover on 4/9," April 9th.

So the president announcing that H.R. McMaster, General McMaster, is out as his national security adviser, and former ambassador John Bolton, a FOX News contributor, is in as the national security adviser.

I think it's fair to say -- let me first bring in the panel: Byron York from the Washington Examiner; Susan Page of USA Today, and Jonathan Swan of Axios. I think it's fair to say that this -- while the timing may be a bit of a surprise, the fact that McMaster was going to be out sooner probably rather than later is maybe a surprise, the timing of it. Jonathan, you've been covering this, the question as to whether or not McMaster is out and when he was going to be out and who the replacement was going to be. Your thoughts?

JONATHAN SWAN, AXIOS: I tell you, this has shocked people inside the building. Again, it's the timing of it. There was an assumption at some point he was going to remove H.R. McMaster. They never formed a personal chemistry. He never worked out how to brief the president.

And this appointment about John Bolton, this is not about ideology. This is not about ideology. John Bolton is as interventionist and hawkish as they come. And this is about chemistry with the president of the United States. He thinks he's strong, he sees him on television, he likes him. And, again, H.R. McMaster never really gelled with this president. It didn't become as toxic as it did Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state, but he was seen as a dead man walking for months inside the White House.

WALLACE: I want to talk a little bit more about this, but General McMaster has just issued a statement in response to the statement from President Trump. McMaster says "After 34 years of service to our nation I am requesting retirement from the U.S. army effective this summer after which I will leave public service. Throughout my career it has been my greatest privilege to serve alongside extraordinary service members and dedicated civilians. I am thankful to President Donald J. Trump for the opportunity to serve him and our nation as the national security adviser. I am grateful for the friendship and opportunity of the members of the National Security Council who work together to provide the president with the best options to protect and advance our national interests. I'm especially proud to have served alongside the men and women of the National Security Council staff who established a strong foundation for protecting the American people, promoting American prosperity, achieving peace through strength, and advancing American influence. I know that these patriots will continue to serve our president and our nation with distinction."

Before I bring in Susan and Byron, Jonathan, the reason I think we're a little bit surprised is there was a story on the front page, I believe it was the "Washington Post" last week, that said McMaster was out, and on Friday McMaster and Kelly said, no, he's not out, that he's there with that dreaded vote of confidence. So why give him the vote of confidence and then less than a week later pull the rug out?

SWAN: Because the honest truth is they didn't know the timing. They didn't know the timing. And I'll tell you because I was one of those reporters on Thursday that reached out to the White House. And the reason the "Washington Post" could run that story was the White House stopped pushing back. On Thursday last week, the White House stopped leaning into aggressively opposing reporters who were saying I'm hearing McMaster is out. They subtly said basically behind the scenes, we're not really going to wave you off in a very aggressive way.

The next morning, you can't completely say the guy is gone while he's still in the job, so they had to walk this very awkward tightrope knowing full well that the president of the United States wanted a new national security adviser, not knowing who that person would be or when he was going to make the decision. And I'll just tell you, this afternoon I was getting calls from the White House. The press team was chaotic and running around. It seems to me like they were caught a little bit off guard by what happened today.

WALLACE: Susan, there are two aspects of this that are interesting. One obviously is McMaster, his service, why he didn't gel with the president, and then the appointment of John Bolton and what that says about the president's foreign policy going forward. We've got to remember we're less than two months away, if it goes as planned, from a summit with Kim Jong- un, the president of North Korea, and the president is going to have a completely new, except for the defense secretary, national security team, a news secretary of state in Mike Pompeo, a new national security adviser in John Bolton.

And we also need to remember McMaster was brought in after the precipitous and sudden firing after three weeks of Michael Flynn as national security adviser. First your thoughts on McMaster, what he did right, what he did wrong.

SUSAN PAGE, USA TODAY: Well, as we've said, he wasn't a good fit personality-wise with the president. Although Bolton wasn't either when they first met. Remember Bolton was up for a job, went in and met with the president and did not immediately click with him either.

The reason this is shocking but not surprising, because we knew McMaster was having trouble. It's shocking because of the timing that you mentioned. This spring we're supposed to have a meeting with the North Korean leader. We may not have a secretary of state. We don't know that Mike Pompeo will be confirmed by the time the North Korean meeting takes place, if it takes place on time. Of course the national security adviser can work at the president's discretion, doesn't require confirmation. So he can start in April as they've said.

But this is the time when we've got these huge foreign policy challenges. We know that the State Department is not staffed in the way it's traditionally been staffed up with experts, and now the president will have this new team that will take presumably at least some time to find their footing.

WALLACE: And as I'm thinking as you're talking, we're all obviously reacting in real time here, the president surprised his foreign policy team when he had his phone call with Vladimir Putin this week, not only congratulating him on his victory but, perhaps more consequentially, talking about having a meeting in the not-too-distant future, and they're not supposed to be in the same city for one of these huge multilateral meetings until next November. So conceivably they could be on the fly be having to deal with a Kim Jong-un summit and a Vladimir Putin summit.

PAGE: And Meanwhile we've started a trade war with China. So if you want to talk about --

WALLACE: Well, we don't know that we have a trade war with them.

PAGE: It's possible. It's a world in turmoil, that's for sure.

WALLACE: It is interesting, Byron, about John Bolton, who is a respected member of the FOX News team as a contributor, because I do know the president was considering him when he first came in in December during the transition, December of 2016. And one of the concerns was the fact that he was very aggressive, that he was a neoconservative in the sense of wanting to confront other countries. Of course the president ran on the idea of avoiding those kinds of international entanglements.

BRYON YORK, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: I think you can talk about one policy in particular in the sense that McMaster I think was a guy who told the president he couldn't do stuff, particularly concerning the Iran nuclear deal. It has to be recertified every three months, so it's come up four times so far. And the president wants to get out of it. And they said no, no, you can't do that. Maybe you should pull out a little bit or issue an ultimatum or get some other people and try to get them on board. There's other things you can do. Meanwhile, our commitment to it stands.

He sees John Bolton on television talking about the Iran nuclear deal, he sees Bolton on television taking a very hard line toward North Korea. So he calls them up. It's not like they haven't talked all year. They have been talking at various times. So I think he feels he wants that he wants that kind of voice.

Also, this is a position that doesn't have to be confirmed by the Senate, and George W. Bush when he made Bolton the U.N. ambassador had to do it through recess appointment because Rand Paul and a few other members of the U.S. Senate just said it would not happen. So it had to be, if you were going to appoint Bolton, had to be in a non-confirmed position.

Content and Programming Copyright 2018 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2018 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. </s> President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he would replace national security adviser H.R. McMaster with John Bolton.

“I am pleased to announce that, effective 4/9/18, @AmbJohnBolton will be my new National Security Advisor,” the president tweeted on Thursday evening. “I am very thankful for the service of General H.R. McMaster who has done an outstanding job & will always remain my friend. There will be an official contact handover on 4/9.”

In a subsequent statement, McMaster, a three-star Army general, announced that he would also retire from the military.

“After thirty-four years of service to our nation, I am requesting retirement from the U.S. Army effective this summer after which I will leave public service,” he said. “Throughout my career it has been my greatest privilege to serve alongside extraordinary servicemembers and dedicated civilians.

“I am thankful to President Donald J. Trump for the opportunity to serve him and our nation as national security advisor. I am grateful for the friendship and support of the members of the National Security Council who worked together to provide the President with the best options to protect and advance our national interests.”

McMaster’s exit brings an end to his uneven tenure as leader of the NSC, marked by internal clashes with the president and other top administration officials and months of swirling speculation about his looming departure.

He never quite meshed with the president, , and at times clashed with him on foreign policy matters.

Though most of their disagreements took place in private, McMaster was the subject of a public rebuke from Trump in February when he stated during a conference in Munich that evidence of Russian meddling in the 2016 elections was “incontrovertible.”

“General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems,” Trump tweeted in response. “Remember the Dirty Dossier, Uranium, Speeches, Emails and the Podesta Company!”

The jab was the first time Trump’s criticisms of McMaster spilled into public view, despite the president’s having seriously his ouster as early as November.

News of McMaster’s departure comes amid concerns over a larger West Wing shake-up, with several top administration officials reportedly under consideration for dismissal by Trump.

The speculation prompted chief of staff John Kelly to address White House staffers this month and offer a reassurance that more upheaval was not on its way for officials, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters last Friday.

“The chief of staff actually spoke to a number of staff this morning, reassuring them that there were personnel changes — no immediate personnel changes at this time — and that people shouldn’t be concerned,” Sanders said at a press briefing that day.

According to Sanders, Trump and McMaster were in meetings together last Friday, but the pair were “not focused on the news stories” regarding the national security adviser’s status with the president.

After The Washington Post last week that Trump had already his mind about parting ways with his national security adviser — and was mulling over the timing of the announcement — Sanders directly addressed McMaster’s status in a late-night note.

“Just spoke to @POTUS and Gen. H.R. McMaster — contrary to reports they have a good working relationship and there are no changes at the NSC,” Sanders tweeted.

McMaster stepped into the role of national security adviser in February 2017, replacing retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn who resigned amid concerns about his contacts with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump’s presidency has been marked by numerous prominent staffing changes. Trump abruptly announced in a tweet last week that Rex Tillerson would be replaced by CIA Director Mike Pompeo as secretary of state.

Earlier this month, Trump’s top economic adviser, Gary Cohn, resigned amid a dispute with the president over his approach to trade tariffs. Late last month, White House communications director Hope Hicks, one of Trump’s longest-serving aides, announced she would step down from her role. </s> PALM BEACH, Fla. – President Donald Trump has tapped Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as his new national security adviser, replacing the ousted Michael Flynn.

Trump announced the pick Monday at his Palm Beach club and said McMaster is “a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience.”

Trump says retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg who had been his acting adviser, will now serve as the National Security Council chief of staff. He also said he would be asking John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to work with them in a “somewhat different capacity.”

Trump made the announcement from a luxurious living room, sitting on a couch between McMaster and Kellogg. He has been looking for a replacement for retired Gen. Michael Flynn, who was ousted last week.

Trump brought four options for the position to Mar-a-Lago over the weekend for in person interviews, McMaster among them. McMaster called the appointment a “privilege.”

The president told reporters as he exited the room that Vice President Mike Pence had been involved in the process.

The position of national security adviser does not require Senate confirmation.

Trump pushed out Flynn a week ago after revelations that the adviser had misled Pence about discussing sanctions with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. during the presidential transition. Trump said in a news conference Thursday that he was disappointed by how Flynn had treated Pence, but did not believe Flynn had done anything wrong by having the conversations.

Trump’s first choice to replace Flynn, retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward, turned down the offer.
U.S. President Donald Trump announces former United States Ambassador to the United Nations John R. Bolton will become his National Security Advisor, succeeding the outgoing H. R. McMaster.