Posted on 02/19/2017 6:49:29 PM PST by Colonel Kangaroo
Nearly a week since U.S. President Donald Trump fired national security adviser Michael Flynn, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul advised against appointing former U.N. Ambassador and White House Chief of Staff John Bolton.
Trump’s first choice, retired Navy special forces officer Robert Harward, who served under Defense Secretary John Mattis, turned down the position last week and reports say the White House has ruled out former CIA Director David Petraeus, who was ousted as the nation’s top spy amid a scandal over his sharing confidential documents with his mistress.
Flynn resigned last week amid questions on whether he discussed sanctions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Trump is scheduled to meet Sunday with four possible replacements: Bolton, retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who is acting national security adviser, Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster and the superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said other interviews also could be scheduled.
In an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Paul, R-Ky., a Libertarian who lost the 2016 Republican presidential nomination to Trump, said Bolton would push a foreign policy closer to that of Sen. John McCain,” R-Ariz.
“John Bolton still believes the Iraq war was a good idea, he still believes regime change is a good idea, he still believes that nation building is a good idea,” Paul said, adding, “My fear is that s secret wars would be developing around the globe. … I think he would be a bad choice.”
On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said he is “fully aware” of the facts that led up to Flynn’s ouster after less than a month on the job.
Some point after we were first tipped off and got to the point of reviewing whether he was being honest or not, after we got the report back from the White House counsel, that's when we looped in, or that's when the vice president was brought into the conversation more fully in regard to whether or not Michael Flynn was honest,” Priebus said.
Priebus added, however, he didn’t think Flynn’s actions rise to a criminal violation of the Logan Act, which prohibits private citizens from engaging in foreign policy.
Former CIA Director Leon Panetta, who served as Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, said Trump needs to recognize that Russia is “an adversary, not a friend.”
“Their main purpose is to destabilize the United States and Western democracies. And they've shown that in everything they've done. So the president, I think ultimately must recognize that his first responsibility is to protect this country. And one of those you have to protect this country from is Russia,” Panetta said on “Meet the Press.”
I voted for Donald Trump because I was tired of Ivy League globalist pr!cks running this nation's foreign policy.
Anyone who still thinks the invasion of Iraq was a good idea shouldn't even be allowed to clean the toilets in the White House.
I like Bolton’s aggressiveness but he is a neocon. There are better choices.
I agree. We do not need another Neo-Con in a position of power.
screw rand paul. the screwy little acorn doesn’t fall far from the screwy little tree.
Trump pretty much ran against everything Bolton stood for.
What made the invasion worthless, was pulling out... that and not insisting on freedom of religion
This.
Policy wise I completely agree. I do think he’d be loyal though and that seems to be in short supply for Trump; this is why I am more open to him than I was before. I don’t think the NSA will be able to push Trump in to adventure wars no matter who it is so I’m not really worried about that. More than willing to hear someone who is not a neocon who would also be loyal though
I trust Rand Paul’s judgment a lot more than I do John McCain’s.
The way it was left was horrible that’s true but at what point could the military have pulled out and it wouldn’t have turned out into a friend of Iran?
If one likes neo-cons, then Bolton is the man. I remember a while ago, he had an op-ed in the Wall St. Journal in which he was arguing strenuously for a pre-emptive air strike by the US against Iran - knock out their nuclear facilities, air force, etc.
I’m not totally against the Iraqi invasion but management of it is something else, Christian persecution began almost immediately to 2003; it lit off sectarianism. We probably needed more troops meaning more hardship at that.
Say what you like about Congressman Ron Paul but if you review his speeches opposing the war in Iraq in 2003, his analysis and predictions were remarkably accurate. He predicted the US would be involved in a long term costly quagmire that would not only not enhance the security of the American people but would destabilize the entire Mideast. He predicted the grave harm that would beset the American economy. He also noted that the conservative Republicans would lose power to leftist Democrats and the country would suffer for it. Face it the man was right.
Donald Trump would do well to steer clear of every pr!ck who worked for either Bush administration in any capacity involving foreign/military affairs.
See Post #15. It didn't take a genius to figure that out. Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney said the same thing a decade earlier. I wonder which foreign interests paid him enough money to get him to change his tune on that once he was the VP.
What John McCain thinks about what screwy Rand Paul thinks about John Bolton’s qualifications for NSC Adviser is pretty irrelevant.
Did you see the interview with Rand Paul this AM? He was in President Trump’s corner. He was very articulate and informed, and happy with DJT’s actions so far. His reasons for not wanting John Bolton in that position are compelling.
He is in a better position as a subordinate to T-Rex!
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