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Thread: Retired vice admiral says no to national security adviser role

  1. #1

    Retired vice admiral says no to national security adviser role

    Ret. Vice Adm. Bob Harward has turned down President Donald Trump’s offer to be national security adviser, sources told CNN Thursday.

    A friend of Harward’s said he was reluctant to take the job because the White House seems so chaotic. Harward called the offer a “s*** sandwich,” the friend said.

    Earlier this week, Trump fired Michael Flynn as national security adviser. Trump has named Ret. Lt. Gen. Joseph Keith Kellogg, who worked under Flynn until his resignation, the acting national security adviser.

    A senior Republican familiar with the process said “a question of clarity regarding the lines of authority” was central in Harward’s decision.

    “I wouldn’t call it a disagreement as much as questions that could not be resolved to his comfort level,” the Republican said.

    White House press secretary Sean Spicer, responding to reports earlier in the day that Harward was out of the running, said he was unable to confirm and was “still not entirely sure that’s true.” A White House official later told CNN Harward turned down the role for financial and family reasons.

    Asked if there was a candidate for national security adviser in sight, the official replied, “Not that I’m aware of.”

    Harward served as Mattis’s deputy when he was commander of US Central Command, which oversees US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Flynn was forced to resign his position in the Trump administration after reports said he discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador before Trump was inaugurated and misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversation. The White House said Flynn’s omission about the details of his conversation led to an erosion of trust between Flynn and the President, prompting Flynn’s exit.

    Following a more than 30-year military career, Harward became chief executive of defense giant Lockheed Martin’s United Arab Emirates division.

    Harward was already familiar with the role of national security adviser and the work of the National Security Council, having previously worked on the NSC’s counterterrorism office from 2003 to 2005 during President George W. Bush’s administration.

    After Flynn’s resignation, Harward’s name floated to the top of lists for potential replacements, alongside acting adviser Kellogg and retired Army Gen. David Petraeus, who pleaded guilty in 2015 to mishandling classified information after he shared sensitive material with a woman with whom he was having an affair.

    Ret. Army Maj. Gen. James “Spider” Marks, a CNN military analyst, called Harward an “incredibly talented guy” in an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett on “OutFront.

    Marks said he didn’t want to speculate why Harward turned down the job, but said turmoil in the White House was likely a contributing factor.

    “I’m sure Bob looked at this, Adm. Harward looked at this, and said, ‘Look there’s a lot of forming and storming going on right now.'”
    http://fox2now.com/2017/02/16/retire...-adviser-role/

    Harward says no to national security adviser role
    http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/16/politi...-adviser-role/
    Last edited by robert68; 02-16-2017 at 11:28 PM.



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  3. #2
    There is no chaos in the White House. Everything is going smoothly.

    A senior Republican familiar with the process said “a question of clarity regarding the lines of authority” was central in Harward’s decision.
    Marks said he didn’t want to speculate why Harward turned down the job, but said turmoil in the White House was likely a contributing factor.

  4. #3
    Brandon Friedman

    Translated version of Vice Admiral Harward's statement after turning down the National Security Advisor job




    https://news.vice.com/story/trumps-o...urned-him-down
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    You only show up to attack Trump when he is wrong
    Make America the Land of the Free & the Home of the Brave again

  5. #4
    "Top national security adviser pick reportedly bailed after seeing Trump's press conference"

    The top pick to be President Donald Trump's national security adviser, retired Adm. Robert Harward, reportedly declined the offer after seeing Trump air his grievances in a 77-minute press conference on Thursday.

    MSNBC host Chris Hayes on Friday cited a former national security official familiar with Harward's decision who said Harward asked that several demands be met as a condition of accepting the offer:

    1. A clear chain of command, reporting directly to the president.
    2. Restoring the [National Security Council] structure of prior administrations ... so that political advisers like Steve Bannon would not have a seat on the Principals' Committee.

    "Harward wanted to undo the fairly large changes the president had made to the NSC that had inserted Bannon into the process," Hayes reported.

    Citing his source, Hayes said "The White House did not offer Harward sufficient assurances that he would have such autonomy." Harward wrote a letter declining the offer.

    The White House reportedly sought to negotiate with Harward on the matter, which Harward was apparently open to, Hayes said, but that changed a short time later.

    "After watching the president's press conference [Thursday], he decided to stick with his decision to decline the offer," according to the source cited by Hayes.
    ...

  6. #5
    sounds like that cuck didn't want to MAGA
    “I don’t think that there will be any curtailing of Donald Trump as president,” he said. "He controls the media, he controls the sentiment [and] he controls everybody. He’s the one who will resort to executive orders more so than [President] Obama ever used them." - Ron Paul

  7. #6
    A senior Republican familiar with the process said “a question of clarity regarding the lines of authority” was central in Harward’s decision.
    Deja vu...

    Quote Originally Posted by Brian4Liberty View Post
    ...
    But once again, this all comes down to the central role of Pence in all of this.

    Accusation: "Flynn lied to, mislead or withheld information from Pence".

    - Is this a crime?
    - Was Flynn under oath while speaking to Pence?
    - Was Pence under oath, and standing in for Flynn while talking to Chris Wallace?
    - Isn't this fairly standard procedure in politics and business? Only under certain circumstances does it because fraud or crime. Of course the boss can fire anyone at anytime for any reason, or it used to be that way.
    - Did Flynn report to VP? The media has elevated VP to some kind of second in command, where everything going up or coming down has to go through him. When did that happen? I may be wrong, but the only official duty of the VP is to be alive and breathing in order to replace the POTUS when POTUS dies, and to cast tie-breaker votes in Senate.
    "Foreign aid is taking money from the poor people of a rich country, and giving it to the rich people of a poor country." - Ron Paul
    "Beware the Military-Industrial-Financial-Pharma-Corporate-Internet-Media-Government Complex." - B4L update of General Dwight D. Eisenhower
    "Debt is the drug, Wall St. Banksters are the dealers, and politicians are the addicts." - B4L
    "Totally free immigration? I've never taken that position. I believe in national sovereignty." - Ron Paul

    Proponent of real science.
    The views and opinions expressed here are solely my own, and do not represent this forum or any other entities or persons.

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian4Liberty View Post
    Deja vu...
    No one has said it was a crime for Flynn to lie to Pence. But honesty to those you should be honest to matters, and notice below that Pence was not trigger happy:

    But even as Flynn flailed, Pence did not urge Trump to fire him, or lash out against him. Instead, said two officials familiar with the situation, Pence was disappointed and suggested that Flynn could publicly apologize. Others within the White House, however, thought what Flynn had done was egregious and unacceptable.

    "The vice president is a very forgiving man," said one White House official.

    On Friday, Pence, chief of staff Reince Priebus and White House counsel Don McGahn held a conference call with Flynn - who had originally denied any improper communications with the Russian envoy - to go over his story again, according to two officials familiar with the call. Flynn was at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's private club in Palm Beach, Fla., during the call, while the other three men were in Washington.

    Pence left the conversation troubled, as did Priebus, who expressed dismay both with Flynn's answers and the dawning reality that Flynn had deceived Pence.

    By Monday, Pence was in full agreement with Priebus and others that it would be best for Flynn to go and remained involved in all top-level talks that day.
    ...
    An example below of how quicker Obama handled his VP being disrespected by subordinates:

    In 2010, when Gen. Stanley McChrystal, President Barack Obama's military chief in Afghanistan, made disparaging remarks about some of Obama's senior civilian advisers, including Vice President Joe Biden, Obama's response was swift and decisive. Within 40 hours, he called McChrystal back to Washington and fired him.

    Pence is not the type to demand that sort of response. Those who know him said he is thinking ahead, believing that as vice president, he is likely to outlast advisers whose positions may be more tenuous.
    ...
    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...214-story.html

    Flynn made his bed and now has to lie in it.
    Last edited by robert68; 02-18-2017 at 01:37 PM.

  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by robert68 View Post
    No one has said it was a crime for Flynn to lie to Pence. But honesty to those you should be honest to matters, and notice below that Pence was not trigger happy:
    Interesting article. It seems to contradict reports that Pence was extremely angry about this.

    More from the article:

    "Does this episode strengthen Pence or weaken Pence?" asked William Kristol, editor at large of the Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine and who served as chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle. "That's what everybody is trying to figure out.".
    ...
    Pence is not the type to demand that sort of response. Those who know him said he is thinking ahead, believing that as vice president, he is likely to outlast advisers whose positions may be more tenuous.

    "Pence is trying to play a long game, keeping his head down and keeping his powder dry, assuming some of the more flamboyant types will blow up or blow out and he will be there as a trusted counselor a year or so from now," Kristol said. But, he added, "the long game can mislead you. If you end up keeping your powder dry and never using it, you end up being just another guy in the White House."
    The long (neoconservative) game indeed. One thing is certain, all of the media is playing up Pence as the one good guy, that was wronged, and the solution is to trust Pence and give him more power.

    And what's happened in the news today? Pence is issuing warnings to Russia...

    Back to the OP, perhaps Harward did not want to report to Pence (and Kristol).
    "Foreign aid is taking money from the poor people of a rich country, and giving it to the rich people of a poor country." - Ron Paul
    "Beware the Military-Industrial-Financial-Pharma-Corporate-Internet-Media-Government Complex." - B4L update of General Dwight D. Eisenhower
    "Debt is the drug, Wall St. Banksters are the dealers, and politicians are the addicts." - B4L
    "Totally free immigration? I've never taken that position. I believe in national sovereignty." - Ron Paul

    Proponent of real science.
    The views and opinions expressed here are solely my own, and do not represent this forum or any other entities or persons.



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